Star Wars: Gray Morality
by darthfielder
Summary: Takes place two years after "Outcast and Legacy". While the galaxy rebuilds after the great battle on Coruscant, Laan and the others must stop the Sith from exploiting an independent planet./// Written with original characters. 2000 years be4 the movies.
1. Chapter 1

((Quick author's note: If you are new to the story I suggest you read my first volume "Outcast and Legacy" which can be found on this site before you read this. Otherwise some of this may not make any sense. Anyways, on to volume two...))

_A long time ago,_

_In a galaxy far, far way..._

_Two years have passed since the Sith attempted a most audacious attack and invasion against the planet of Coruscant. After the Sith were pushed back the galaxy has reached a momentary period of calm as the Sith remain subdued. Both the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order have gone to great lengths to restore the damage done totheir reputations by their corrupt predecessors. Under the rule of Chancellor Mungand, it seems that once again the Republic stands for a free government of unity and free ideas. While the new Jedi Council has shown the galaxy that they are the same symbol of peace they used to be._

_Meanwhile, the Sith are waiting in the shadows as they try to recuperate their losses from their failed invasion. They train new Sith, build more bases, and construct more devices of terror. However, the repair of their ranks has been impaired by a mysterious group that has been targeting Sith key points and reducing them to rubble. Unknown to them, their mysterious enemy is one that they've already faced. Many times before._

Chapter 1: Covert

--- --- ---

It was exactly two years ago to this date that the Sith attacked Coruscant. The second year anniversary. A day to take time and honor the lives of those that died on that day. To honor the success the Republic has been making in their attempt to rebuild the planet. To show his honor, the Chancellor was throwing a banquette for those that had helped him so much during his first two years in office.

The banquet was set on the roof of the "Great Ceremonial Stand". The G.C.S was a large, gold plated building constructed to host great occasions. The open roof of the G.C.S towered over most of the area's other structures. From the top of the golden structure, water constantly cascaded down the four sides of the building. When light hit the building it would flicker from the gold plating to the clear water, causing a beautiful visual effect. Unauthorized aircraft wasn't even permitted to fly near the structure for fear of blinding the drivers.

The guests of the banquet were all standing on top of the open roof. Tables of food were placed around the outside edges of the roof while the guests remained in the center. On one end there was a stage made of two ivory color statues of a large, human man and women standing, holding a platform between them. Standing atop the platform in his pure white robes, medium length blonde hair neatly combed to the back of his head, the constantly determined look on his face, and the scar along his left jawline from his encounter with the old Jedi council, was Chancellor Rasch Mungand.

While his guest list had only permitted fifty people into the banquette, dozens of holo-recorders from news stations hovered above the roof of the G.C.S building. Catching the Chancellor as he began a prepared speech, "Two years have passed. Two years since the core of the Replubic had been rocked and nearly shattered. To some it doesn't seem that long ago. To others that lost loved ones, it may seem like an eternity. From the day I took this position I have done everything in my power to fix the un-fixable. But I wasn't alone in that effort. We, as a united galaxy, have made incredible progress in our efforts. Nothing we can do can ever completely make up for what we lost. We will never be fully satisfied with the state of this galaxy. But we have proven that we can still survive even with our losses."

Rasch then motioned towards the crowd, "Today, I have invited some of those people that have helped me with my quest for peace. I thank all of those that came, and ask you to join me in honoring those that lost their lives, two years ago. Thank you."

Racsh bowed to his guests and the guests responded with a loud ovation of clapping that lasted for two minutes. Two minutes to honor the two years. One of those clapping guests was Jedi Master Zade Rad'hyth dressed in his usual blue Jedi robes over black under-robing. His once dreadlocked hair had been shaved bald. Not by choice exactly. But he was recently sent to a planet where the locals thought of it as an insult for men to have hair on the tops of their heads. So to avoid incident he was forced to shave.

Standing next time him was his Pylianan padawan, Annoli Fennal. Now a young woman. The only thing that remained the same about Annoli from two years ago were the green, slash tattoos on her body. Other than that, everything changed. Even her hair color changed from a dark blue-green to an even darker blue with just a fade of green. This color change was common with her race as they aged. She was taller, stronger, wiser, and more mature. Though, Zade still wouldn't call her "mature" emotional standards. Annoli still seemed like a kid inside, and Zade doubted she'd ever change. She too was wearing a modified version of his black and blue robes.

As the two stood shoulder-to-shoulder, clapping, Annoli leaned closer to Zade and asked him, "Rasch isn't very good with speeches. Is he?"

"Well... I have heard better. At least he made it short and simple." He told her, "And I think it would be best if you address him as Chancellor for now."

"But he told us we didn't have to call him that." She argued as she continued to clap.

"Just for today. People like these have titles for a reason. Please?" He pleaded with her.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Yeah. Sure thing, Master _Rad'hyth_."

He glared at her, "You know I hate when you call me that." She stared back at him with meaning. Zade sighed, "Okay, point taken. Call him whatever you want."

With a victorious smile she stopped clapping just as everyone else stopped. On stage, Rasch gave one final bow to his guests before leaving the stage. The banquet officially began. Annoli rubbed her hands together and looked around at the tables of food, "The questions is set. What to eat first?"

"Zade! Annoli!" A voice called out ahead of them.

They both saw the pale-violet skinned Twi'lek senator from Esseles, Sienn Parra walk towards them. She wore a beautiful white dress with a very low cut. With a wink and a whistle Annoli took her elbow and nudged Zade in the rib. She often teased him about Sienn and how if Zade weren't a Jedi they'd make a good couple. Zade ignored his padawan and welcomed Sienn with a bow, "Hello, Senator."

She smiled at him, "_Senator_? Has it been so long that that's how you refer to me as now?"

Annoli let out a single, loud laugh, "Ha! I told you acting all formal was insulting."

"That's not what you said." He said under his breath before apologizing to Sienn, "I'm sorry,_ Sienn_."

She waived her hand towards him, "Of course. Don't worry about it, Zade."

"Well then!" Annoli said, "I'll leave you two to catch up while I make sure that Rodian Sentor doesn't take all the Juiju fruit slices!"

Annoli excused herself and ran for one of the banquet tables. As she ran, she bumped into a man in black and gray robes. She didn't even stop to apologise. Zade shook his head, "That girl."

"_Girl_?" Sienn repeated, "Why, shes grown so much I don't think you can call her that anymore."

He shrugged his shoulder, "What do you expect me to call her? _Lady_? Believe me, there is nothing ladylike about that one."

To add to his point, the two watched as Annoli scolded a Rodian Senator for taking all the fruit for himself. Sienn looked to Zade with a wide smile, "Oh stop acting like the grumpy old man. We both know you're having the time of your life as her Master."

He nonchalantly shrugged his right shoulder, "Meh. It has its moments."

She laughed at Zade, "I'll take that as a confirmation."

"Take it as you will. Zade said with a smile, "Anyways, how is Esseles doing?"

"Just fine. My planet was saddened after the passing of president Bjuurba. But President Tab is doing a commendable job. As always, the Republic has our support."

Just then a group of female Senators came walking by. One called over to Sienn, "Oh, Sienn! Over here."

Sienn sighed loudly, "Oh its... _them_."

Zade snickered, "Friends, I assume?"

"Something like that." She politely waved back to them while telling Zade, "I should go talk with them. Or, 'suck up' is probably more correct." She quickly turned to him and asked, "Do you think we could continue this conversation some other time?"

He bowed to her, "Of course."

They said a quick farewell before Sienn left him for the other Senators. As she left, Zade saw a rustling in the crowd to his left. From the crowd he saw Rasch making his way through the crowd. Shaking hands and giving quick thanks to those that came to the occasion. He didn't stay with one person long enough to begin a conversation though. Eventually Rasch found his way to Zade as some guests began to follow Rasch. Before Zade could say a thing, Rasch gave Zade an exhausted look and took his left arm and warped it around Zade's shoulders. Rasch then pulled Zade into walking along with him and away from the guests. As they walked Zade raised an eyebrow, "Tough work isn't it?"

Reach removed his arm from Zade's shoulder and sighed, "No more than what I expected when I took office. But that still doesn't make things an easier."

The two walked over to a table of food. Rasch reached over and grabbed a plate of some type of seafood bites. Zade wasn't hungry and just leaned against the table. He crossed his arms over his chest and told him, "I must say Chancellor, you have done an excellent job. I don't know of anyone that would have had the galaxy recovering this quickly."

"Yeah well," Rasch said as he swallowed one of the seafood bites down, "As long as the Sith exist, I'm always paranoid. Every night I go to sleep I expect to be woken and told that the Sith are attacking some planet again. Or they and their flying tower are approaching_ this_ planet again. I wonder if I've dedicated too many of our ranks in recovering the damages from two years ago, and not tracking the Sith. Speaking of which, do the Jedi have any news to report?"

"Well this is hardly the place... but no. I'm afraid not. Master Koppler was checking some leads on Fadden but he hasn't found anything yet."

Rasch sighed again, "I see. I'm sorry to speak about such things at a time like this."

Zade shrugged it off, "Don't worry about it. Honestly, I'm not interesting enough to talk abut anything outside of my day job anyways."

Rasch chuckled, "If being a Jedi defender is your day job, I'd hate to see your night job."

As they spoke a young man with gray eyes and long black hair tied back into a tail approached them at the table. Zade noticed his black and gray robes. It was the same man that Annoli bumped into earlier. The man reached over to the table and grabbed a plate of the seafood bites. Zade bowed his head to the man, "Ah sir, I must apologize on my padawan's behalf. For bumping into you earlier."

With a wide, charming grin the man told Zade, "No problem." With his free hand he extended his hand to Zade, "Master _Rad'Hyth_, its an honor to meet you."

Ugh. _That_ name. Zade got a strange vibe from this man and he didn't think it was just because he called him, 'Master Rad'Hyth'. Zade put his suspicions behind him and shook the man's hand. The man than extended his hand to Rasch, "And Chancellor, it is an honor to meet you too. I have great respect for what both of you have done in these two years."

Rasch raised an eyebrow as he shook the man's hand, "Umm Thank you. I'm sorry but.. I'm not sure who you are."

The man snickered, "Well... I guess you could call me a party crasher."

Zade and Rasch both flinched. Zade leaned forward from the table and puts his hands to his side. Close to his lightsabers, just in case. Zade questioned the man, "And how exactly did you get through security?"

The man raised a cocksure eyebrow, "You can do allot with a blank data-card and access to a Republic mainframe. Now, getting access to the Republic mainframe, that's the hard part!"

Zade and Rasch exchanged concerned glances. Rasch was ready to call for security when the man quickly told him, "Please. I didn't come here with malicious intent."

"Then what?" Rasch asked.

"Hmm..." The man thought, "What would I call it? A _peace offering_? No. That's not it. Ah, a _business proposal_ sound right."

"Who are you?" Zade asked abruptly.

The man put the plate down and looked at Zade, "So, you really don't remember me?"

Zade shook his head, "No. Can't say as I do."

The man cleared his throat and put his hand to his chest, "Oh? I was about this high? Small punk padawan? Crazy nightmares? Getting into trouble with the council? Killed a Sith Lord ? Outcast from-"

Zade's eyes grew wide, "Laan?!"

The man snapped his fingers, "That's it! You do remember... After like eight hints. But at least you remembered."

Zade kept his hands near his lightsabers, "Last I heard of you, you weren't to pleased with the Jeid Order."

Laan looked down at Zade's hands near his lightsabers. He looked back up at Zade with an amused smile on his face, "What? I'm not here to seek out my vengeance if _that's_ what you're thinking."

"Excuse me?" Rasch asked them, "I believe I'm missing something here."

"This man was once a padawan in the order." Zade told him, "The one that had a vision of Darth Vultous."

"And the one that killed her I might add. Albeit a cheap kill. But a kill none-the-less." Laan pointed out.

"Yes." Zade acknowledged, "Then the old Jeid Council cast him out for, as they thought, his responsibilities in the loss of Jedi life."

"And now the old Council's dead." Laan told them, "So now I have no reason to hold a grudge. Relax."

"What about Master Sarval-Styr?" Zade asked him.

Laan nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, "What about him? He was the only one that stuck up for me. Why would I want revenge on him?"

"Forgive me, Laan. But I can never be too cautious around one cast out of the Order. Even if you didn't deserve it."

"Right." Laan said stoically, "For all you know I got so enraged I gave into the dark side and swore bitter vengeance against all those that wronged me."

Seeing how lightly Laan was taking this just like he used to as a cheerful Padawan, Zade loosened up a bit. Only a bit though. He moved his hands an inch further from his sabers and told Laan, "Well, it wouldn't be the first time."

Rasch stepped in and turned to Laan, "Well now, he doesn't seem malicious. Maybe shady, but not malicious." He gave Laan a quick bow of the head, "I was a General during Darth Vultous's reign. It was an awful time. You may have been an uninvited guest, knowing what you've done for us I'd like to formally invite you to this banquet."

"Thanks." Laan said as he bluntly reached over and patted Rasch on the shoulder.

Rasch wasn't offended by Laan's informality. In fact he laughed. Zade even loosened up enough to lower his hands from his sides and asked Laan with a half-smile, "So then Laan, what have you been doing all these years?"

Laan started choking on one of the seafood bites. After he was done hacking he answered, "O-oh? W-well... I owned a junk and repair shop on Lanoul. And... I did some _other_ stuff."

"Well, as long as you haven't fallen in with the Sith." Zade told him.

Laan chuckled nervously, "Heh, heh... yeah... Well, I never said that I never spent time with the Sith."

Zade's face fell and he put his hands back on his lightsaber handles, "What?"

Laan put his hands out in front of him defensively, "Whoa now slick, Lets not go over all this again."

"Why don't you explain everything, Laan? You're making me overly suspicious."

"Fine." Laan told them as he looked around the area, "Even if this is far from the place or time, I'll tell you."

"We're listening." Rasch said.

"Hyarsythe." Laan told them.

Rasch thought the name sounded familiar, "The Sith academy?"

"Former." Laan corrected, "Thanks, in part, to me."

"You destroyed it?" Zade asked him with a hint of doubt.

"From the inside out." Laan told them, "Most importantly, I gathered some information."

Zade still wasn't sure he believed Laan but he went along with him for now, "Information?"

Laan nodded, "About the Risa'griez Citadel."

He now had Zade's full attention, "The tower that attacked here?"

"Yup." Laan said with a grin, "Didn't you ever wonder why the Citadel suddenly pulled out for no apparent reason?"

Now he may have lost Zade's attention, "You don't really expect us to believe you did that too?"

"Of course not. You need proof." Laan told him as he reached into robes. He removed a datepad and held it out in front of him, "After Hyarsythe, me and some others went from base to base. Taking them down and stealing some information. Lots of it. I wasn't sure if I could trust this new Republic with this information. Much like I couldn't trust the last one. But you have proven yourselves worthy to me in the last two years." He held the datapad in front of their faces, "I can almost guarantee you this one datapad has more information about the Sith in it than all of Republic Intelligence." He then reached over and stuck the datapad into Rasch's chest, "If you don't believe me, this should be more than enough to prove myself."

Rasch took the pad and stared at it, "If what you say is true, you'll have my ear."

"Good. Take a day. Bring that to R.I. and have them inspect it. When you're satisfied with the evidence," Laan looked to Zade, "I'll meet with you and the Jedi Council at the temple. If you believe me, you can hear my proposal. Sounds good?"

"Quite sure of yourself. Aren't you?" Zade said with a smile.

"I know. I haven't changed a bit, right?" Laan responded with a chuckle.

"No, you really haven't." Zade told him.

All of a sudden they heard some one yell, "It's you!"

Half the party turned towards a table of food and saw Annoli pointing to a woman in a black and white, robe-dress. She had tan skin, violet eyes, and long, black hair with violet tips. Zade sighed loudly, "Oh.... _grea_t. Forgive me, but I should take care of this."

Zade rushed over to them and grabbed Annoli by the shoulders, "Now who are you bothering?"

Annoli pointed back at the woman, "I-I-It's her! Shes the her!"

The woman nervously twirled his hair around her fingers, "I have no idea what this girl is talking about..."

"I'm so sorry about this." Zade apologized to her. He turned to Annoli, "Now, what are you talking about?"

Annoli looked at Zade and described, "This woman was the one that saved me. From Brycers."

"I've never met this girl before in my entire life." The woman replied.

Laan walked over to them, "It's okay Lwyn. They know who we are now."

"Oh." Lwyn smiled at Annoli, "In that case, it's good to see you recovered from those injuries."

Annolie smiled brightly to her, "Thanks to you." Annoli then jabbed Zade in the hip, "Told you!"

Lann motioned towards Zade and told Lwyn, "This is Zade, the Jedi Master I told you about." Then motioned towards Lwyn and told Zade and Annoli, "This is my wife, Lwyn."

Annoli eagerly reached and grabbed Lwyn's hand and shook it, "Pleasure to meet you."

Laan looked around and noticed that almost all of the party was staring at the group. He cleared his throat, "Ahem! Well I think we've ruined this party more than enough. I'll see you two tomorrow at the temple?"

Zade nodded to them, "Very well. I know I may have been cautious of you Laan, but I'm glad to see you alive and well."

Laan nodded back in silence. After making a commotion, Laan and Lwyn left the party but not without taking a plate or two to eat on the way out.

---\__**V**__/---

Ahh... Its been so long since I last stood in the Jedi High Council Chamber. Pompous name. Bad, bad memories. At least I saw some respectable faces this time. The most noticeable for me was the Klatooinian, Master Sarval-Styr. The new Grand Master of the Order. He stood in his central chair in the council circle with a smile on his face. Why I'd even go as far to say, he was happy to see me alive.

Sitting next to him was the Master of the Order, the bat-faced, Master Takie. And siting next to her was a hologram image of the patch-eyed Master Wennsis. She was away on mission but wanted to be part of this meeting through live holo-vid. The rest of the council had some familiar faces but ones that I didn't know much about.

In holo-form, Rasch stood in between Sarval and Takie's chairs. He was busy and also had to join the meeting through holo-vid. Zade and Annoli were both present through my request. Even if I hadn't requested it I'm sure they'd have joined. They stood towards the back of the room. I stood in the center while the the Jedi Council encircled me in their chairs. It was both intimidating and very, very familiar. At least this time, I had others to back me up. Both Lwyn and my old partner, Verru "HotShot" Homler stood with me.

The three of us wearing more comfortable clothing from the ones at the banquet. I was wearing one of my favorite robes. An experimental design of armored robe I stole from the Sith and repainted to make it look less intimidating. A long, sleeveless, black under-robe that was tight and formfitting around my chest but skirted out around the side of my legs, but kept the fronts and backs of my legs open. Ending just before the robes fit the floor. My chest and back were protected by a set of ribbed, flexible armor plates. Repainted from black to sand-brown in color. Protecting my hands were black gloves with more sand colored plating on them. The same with my knee length boots. It was pretty light and comfortable for armor and the plating could withstand a blaster bolt or two. Lwyn even bought me a fancy leather belt that could hold four lightsaber handles at a time. All of which I uniquely constructed myself. And of course I still had my pendant of the Lanoul Wolf. Though through my many missions I have needed to replace the chain many, many times.

Lwyn always wore a black, formfitting, sleeveless and legless top. It was freeing and helped her with her externally agile type of dueling style. Because it was slightly less than modest, she wore a white, wrapping robe that fell down to her knees. She also wore detachable sleeves and long boots. Both provided light protection and weren't at all constricting.

HotShot wasn't worried about armor or protection. She wore a black flight jacket over a white top. Black boots over simple dark brown pants. Nothing fancy. All she said she ever needed was a blaster. She had the empty holster belted across her waist but the Jedi had her remove her blaster before she entered. To her protests, I removed it for her and handed it off to the nearest Jedi for safekeeping.

The three of us stood as representatives of our side, Rasch represented the Republic, and the others in the room represented the Jedi Order. Rasch had a datapad folded under his left arm as he spoke to me, "Well Laan, you weren't over exaggerating about the information you've given us. We were aware of a hidden Sith cell on the planet Jubilar but we could never smoke them out. You've given us the locations of their safe houses as well as names and aliases of their leaders. And that's only a small portion of what was on that datapad. We were also able to confirm that you've at least been to the places you've claimed to have been. However, you're still an unknown source to us and this joint proposal of yours may be out of our realm of possibility."

"You'll at least hear me out?" I asked him.

"Of course. I just want you to be aware that, from my position, I'm still not sure if you can be trusted."

I put my hands in the air and tilted my head, "Again, all I ask is that you hear me out."

He nodded to me, "Go on then."

"Thank you." I said as I put my hands together and rubbed them briefly before I began, "I am here to... _unofficially_ request a sort of collaboration from our group, the Jedi Order, and Republic."

"_Unofficially_?" Master Sarval repeated, "You are aware of how shady that sounds?"

"Well... yeah." I admitted, "While I do want your help, I don't your help to be officially known outside those present in this room. I know that sounds even shadier.. but my reasons for secrecy aren't intended to be sinister. They're for privacy. Tell me, who here has heard of the planet Mautmua?"

Annoli leaned over to Zade and asked, "Funny name. I've never heard of it. Have you?"

"No." Zade told her.

I could tell by the look on Rasch and Sarval's faces that they were at least somewhat aware of Mautmua. I looked over my shoulder to Zade and Annoli and told them, "It's not surprising. If you're aware of Mautmua you are also aware of it's pained past caused by the Republic and to a lesser extent, the Jedi Order. The knowledge of it's past and the knowledge of the planet's existence comes hand-in-hand nowadays."

"Yes." Rasch told me, "Its not a popularly known planet due to the fact its not near much and lacks valuable resources outside its own planet but many of the upper ranks in the Republic are aware of it. 400 years ago a corrupt Republic General occupied the planet. He did many awful things there that went unknown to the Republic for far too long."

"The natives feared the Republic." Sarval added, "Out of desperation they asked the Jedi for help... but for reasons unknown to me, we never answered them."

"Understandably and not surprisingly, the people on the planet still hold a grudge." I told them as I raised my right hand. I had three fingers up, "There are three sentient species on Mautmua." I put my hand back down, "The two native species are the Curakunda and the Turr'Shek. Humans colonized there over 500 years ago. Since the incident happened 400 years ago, do the math, humans were relatively knew to the planet when the incident happened. Also considering the Republic General was human, it caused a rift. The Curakunda decided that the humans were not to blame and sided with them. The Turr'Shek weren't as understanding and didn't trust the humans and after the Curakunda sided with the Humans, they were no longer trusted either. Not that the two species were ever that close."

Lwyn nodded, "The only thing all three species agree on is that outsiders are not to be allowed onto their planet after the incident. Or... at least in theory."

"All outsiders except for the Sith." I continued, "Since the Curakunda sided with the Humans, the Turr'Shek didn't trust that they wouldn't at some point invite more outsiders to the planet. So they decided to go outside the planet for, at least in their opinion, a side that would protect Mautmua from the Republic."

"The Sith." Rasch concluded.

Lwyn nodded her head, "Yeah. The Sith came and promised Turr'Shek protection. In return the Sith built bases and factories on the Turr'Shek lands. Meanwhile, the Curakunda and Humans were forced from their homes to make more room for the Sith."

"The Turr'Shek think they are allies with the Sith." HotShot said, "But they're just being exploited."

"And the Curakunda and Human colony still distrust outsiders to ask for help directly." Lwyn added.

I grinned, "At least until they met us. When we found out that the Sith were on Mautmua we headed for the planet only to find that the Sith had created a global barrier around the planet to keep unwanted visitors out." I chuckled, "But their codes were weak and easy to hack into. I believe the barrier is more for show by the Sith to prove that they are truly on the Turr'Shek side against outsiders. It's useful to keep smugglers and mid-level criminals out, but if somebody with a reasonable I.Q. really wanted to break the barrier, it's simple enough."

Lwyn smiled and patted me on the shoulder, "Simple indeed. We broke the barrier. When we came across and then helped the Curakunda fight off a Turr'Shek raid. The Curakunda-Human insurgency had no choice but to accept us as allies."

"We became the first outsiders in 400 years that the Curakunda accepted." I bragged slightly before I continued normally, "Anyways, we don't really have much information on what kinda of operations the Sith have on Mautmua. But we did get a visual on one of the former Curakunda villages and what the Sith transformed it into. Big, industrial buildings. Guarded and operated mostly by the Turr'Shek. We saw few actual Sith. But we didn't get the best look either... Anyways, this operation looks absolutely massive."

Sarval ran his finger across his chin, "The Sith are as clever as usual. Finding a planet they could exploit without retaliation from the Republic or Jedi."

"Sounds like they turned the planet into a massive manufacturing plant." Wennsis said through her holo-image.

"Much more than that." I told her, "Weapon plants, ship yards, and... the insurgency told us that captured Human and Curakunda have been experimented on. It's pretty bad."

"What help do you need from us?" Rasch asked eagerly. He sounded like he was ready to trust me. _Possibly_ trust me.

"Well." I said as I put my hands on my hips, "As we tried to figure out how we could make an impact against the Sith I realized that this was bigger than anything we've ever taken on before. We needed help. So I sat down and talked with the Curakunda War Head. The War Head was a rank that began as the leader of the insurgency but as war enveloped the entire planet, the War Head as now became the leader of the entire Curakunda race."

"It's never a good sign when the leader of the race has 'war' it their title." One of the other Council members mentioned the obvious.

I continued, "I asked him if he'd be willing to take a leap of faith and trust the Republic or at least the Jedi for assistance. Even if it was just a small number."

Zade snickered and repeated sarcastically, "_At least the Jedi_? Thank you for the vote of confidence."

I laughed and responded jokingly, "Nothing personal. I just think the job calls for some one who isn't afraid to get their robes a little dirty and mud in their face."

"Ah." Zade said with a smile, "A jab at the Jedi's clean lifestyle... You are aware you're standing in the lion's den when you say that."

I raised an eyebrow, "Is that a threat? From a Jedi?"

We both chuckled for a second. Apparently, I was getting off topic because Lwyn cleared her throat and elbowed me in the side to get me back on track. I turned back towards Sarval, Takie, and Rasch's side of the room and went on, "A-Anyways, I talked the War Head into accepting a small number of Republic and Jedi onto his land. So here I am. I need help and this is a chance of redemption for both the Jedi and Republic. I'm asking you for a few representatives to join us. However, and I understand if this is a deal breaker, I will be in charge."

"Hmm..." Rasch mumbled, "You know we can't accept those terms."

"Not without volunteers." I corrected him. I turned to Sarval and Rasch and told them, "I believe you've both received messages from me earlier. I did my research and looked for people that I feel as though I could trust with this. People who aren't afraid to bend the rules once in awhile if it's for the greater good."

Rasch nodded, "I did get the message but I don't know if I can allow this either way."

Wennsis sighed and stared at me, "I don't know if we have a choice _now_. Laan already told the Curakunda that he's come to seek our help. If he comes back empty handed their disdain for us is only going to grow."

I put my hands up innocently and shook my head, "No, no. I told them this was a long shot. I didn't lead them to believe anything beyond that."

"You may not have lead them but the implication remains." She countered.

"True. But I wasn't about to recruit the ones the betrayed them behind their backs either." I told her.

She sighed and nodded, "I understand. This is just a very unstable situation."

"Look," I told them, "I know that the Jedi have done missions in secret before. I know because as a padawan I took part in a couple. And I for sure know the Republic has. They have an entire organization dedicated to secrecy. I request the leadership role but I'm not asking for submission. I won't give orders and outside influence would be appreciated. I won't demand you to do anything you aren't comfortable with."

Zade folded his hands over his chest and eyed me, "So you don't ask us to become your subordinates? Is that right?"

"Of course not." I told him, "Its just that the natives have grown to trust us. I know more about them and their planet then you do. And no offense, we know allot more about today's Sith than you guys do. I have more experience this time."

Zade nodded, "I see." He then looked past me towards the Jedi around the room, "I think it's a responsible request."

Wennsis tilted her head to the side, "You do?"

Zade nodded again, "Yes. I do. I don't think the request is that unreasonable. Laan has presented his case and its up to us to decided whether it's acceptable or not. I think Laan has proven to be an acceptable source."

"I disagree." Wennsis told him. She then looked at me, "_No offense_ but we don't know what kind of state of mind Laan is in. Yes, hes accomplished allot but we don't know how hes done so."

"I will be honest." I told her, "I may not have to done things the 'Jedi way' but I'm not evil for it."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Zade told Wennsis, "But didn't you once fight alongside seedy, Dug mercenaries on Malastare during one of your recent missions."

Wennsis lowered her head and a her upper lip curled slightly into a tiny smile, "Alright, I get it. I just wanted to make sure."

Sarval nodded, "Okay then. Laan, the Jedi have accepted your request. I read the message you sent earlier and the three names you requested as our representatives. I won't decide for them, their answer will strictly be voluntary."

I nodded with a cocksure grin, "That's fine by me. I believe the three I chose will jump at the chance."

Sarval smiled and nodded, "I'm sure you're right. You chose well."

"Who have you requested?" Wennsis asked.

I looked back towards Zade and Annoli, "Those two."

The reason I wanted Zade and Annoli is that they have proven to break Jedi code if needed. Zade went against his very Council to stop their staining of the galaxy. I also knew they were up for challenges. Zade and Annoli had both taken the dual-lightsaber form, Jar'Kai. A form that most Jedi avoided due to it's difficulty to master. Plus, I saw firsthand how tough Annoli was to survive her encounter with that Sith two years ago. That and if I wanted Zade, Annoli would have to come along anyways.

Zade smiled. Annoli eagerly slapped her hands together. Zade answered, "I figured as much." Zade turned to his padawan and asked her, "I don't even have to ask if you're on board with this.."

Annoli looked back at him, "Oh yeah! We haven't been on such an extremely dangerous mission in two years. I'm getting rusty."

Zade looked at me and nodded, "Accepted. Who else?"

"Master Keiral." I told him.

"Master Keiral? You wanted someone that wouldn't mind bending the rules? You _have_ done your research."

That I have. Caily-Kyn Keiral. Besides the fact I liked saying her name, I chose her for the same reason that I chose Zade and Annoli. And she was unorthodox to say the least. Being of Miraluka blood she was already a unique individual. From what I know of the Miraluka, they are a near-human species born Force-sensitive. Born without eyes. Only vestigial eye sockets. Instead of eyesight, most saw through a colorless Force Sight. They could perceive a plain version of objects and organics around them. Most objects could even be be seen through to a limit. If the Sight was strong enough I even heard that if they looked upon a Jedi or Sith they could view an aura around them. But that was just what the Miraluka do.

Caily-Kyn was unique beyond her race. She was unique because of her sometimes heretical stance of the Jedi's rules. In addition to her traditional lightsaber I also read she'll often use other forms of weaponry. Yeah, "weaponry". Jedi don't like to call their lightsabers a "weapon" but Caily-Kyn not only used hers as one, but from the reports I read she also used various instruments such as poison tipped darts, ion grenades, blasters, and other dangerous tools. Many Jedi have used these types of devices before out of desperation or necessity. But Caily-Kyn would actually take these tools with her into battle from the beginning! She's often walking the line on being exiled from the Order but shes never done anything outrageous enough to warrant banishment. I wanted her edge and her craft for this job.

"I'm confident enough in saying Master Kerial will be on board for this." Zade told me.

"Good. Counting on it." I responded.

Lwyn teasingly stared at me with shady looking eyes, "Laan's always looking to add as many woman as he can to his team. Aren't you?"

I grinned and intentionally tried sounding as insulting as I could, "Because you can't match the fury of a pissed off chick."

Lwyn bit down on her lower lip and held her comments to herself. I'm sure I'd hear more about it later. During Lwyn and my questionably placed banter, Rasch had removed the datapad from under his arm and began reading it. He spoke to me when he was finished, "And the three individuals you've asked from the Republic... You've requested Captain Ailoko and Captain Jaden along with a pilot just graduated from the academy?"

"That's right." I told him.

He shook his head, "I can't afford to send two Captains..."

"Understood."

"Ah!" He suddenly said, "I think I know of a good replacement though. If you'll allow me."

I nodded, "Who is it?"

"He has no rank to speak of but he recently became a war hero. Taking down twelve enemies while protecting a wounded comrade. I could use this mission as an excuse to promote him."

"Sounds fair."

Rasch looked back down at his datapad, "Good. I'll send him and Captain Ailoko. Then... about this student. He graduated top in his class but I'm still curious as to what interest you have in this Ty'Vayne."

Lwyn smiled from ear-to-ear, "An old friend. If you could, please don't mention us. I'd like it to be a surprise."

"Good ol' Frogface." HotShot said under her breath.

"Are these six names acceptable then?" I asked with a smile of my own.

Sarval nodded, "Yes."

Rasch nodded as well, "Yes. I too will ask on a voluntary basis. If they decline, I'll provide a substitute. Is that okay?"

"Of course." I said.

"Do you require any supplies or transportation?" Rasch asked.

"No. We already have that taken care of." I told them, "All I require is that the six representatives meet us at Yaun Harbor by evening tomorrow. Dressed in street clothes and no visible weaponry. Non-visible but ya know, bring 'em if ya got 'em."

Everyone was in agreement. Three from the Jedi and three from the Republic. I was glad I was able to acquire their assistance because I knew I would need it. Though, I wasn't exactly sure if this was the best idea. Their "morals" may get in the way. But I want to help Mautmua rebuild after we rid them of the Sith. That's something I can't do. They need the Republic to help them. So the trust needs to be restored. This was the best way I could think of to restore that trust. I meant it when I said I wouldn't make them do anything they were uncomfortable with. If I do something they don't agree with they can just sit on the sidelines. But if someone doesn't like how I do things and they get in my way... well... I just hope it won't come to that.


	2. Chapter 2: Down by the Docks

Chapter 2: Down by the Docks

--- --- --- ---

The day after my meeting at the Jedi Temple, Lwyn, HotShot, and I headed to Yaun Harbor. Our meeting place with the others. We were still wearing the same clothes we wore yesterday. Washed though of course. Lwyn and I had our lightsabers tucked away at the moment.

Allot of colorful characters use this port. Its cheep to rent a landing dock so most of their customers are those that do allot of traveling. Merchants, delivery services, spacers, and smugglers mostly. The later of the group are the more common around this area. The merchants and delivery services travel throughout many parts of the city and left their ships behind at the port. However, the smugglers stayed around the direct vicinity of the port. In case they had to leave quickly. That's why I asked the others to come in street clothes. If the smugglers saw Republic uniforms or Jedi robes it could cause a ruckus.

We arrived at the port's entry archway. A gaudy sea-foam green arch with white and gold trim. As well as spots of rust. The rest of the port's theme was the same gaudy colors. Oh well. The price and practicality is all that mattered.

We decided to wait in front of the archway so we'd be easier spotted. As we stood there, people were constantly coming and going from the port. There were quite a few cantinas around that were popular even though it was still midday. Most of the people kept to themselves. However, I saw a gang of tusked, bipedal, sort of spider-faced Aqualish stare at us. To be more specific, they were looking at Lwyn and HotShot. HotShot noticed them staring at her. She put her thumb up to her throat and gestured cutting her thumb along her throat. They backed down after that. Good choice by them. I told Lwyn and Shot, "We'd better keep an eye open. In case someone wants to pick a fight... Or ask the two you two out for drinks."

Lwyn looked at her gloved ring finger, "Oh yeah. I guess they can't see my ring under my glove."

"I really don't think these slime-rats care about a tiny piece of metal on your finger." HotShot told her.

"Like I really care what they think. They touch me and they loose a limb." Lwyn responded under her breath.

Lwyn had gotten less and less squeamish over these couple of years. She once cringed at the thought of popping a dislocated shoulder back into place. Now she wasn't afraid to yank that shoulder out of someone that ticked her off. I was both proud and slightly frightened of her for that. While we waited Hotshot kept asking me if I was sure about this whole thing. Working with these people. I kept telling her, yes. But to be honest I wasn't fully sure myself.

As we talked I saw three figures walking towards us. The Jedi. Zade and Anoli were both wearing light brown clothing with dark brown shawls and a hood around their shoulders and head. The third, I assumed was Caily-Kyn, was wearing a decorative dark blue, full body, one-piece suit. Silver seams of the suit were sewn into a webbing pattern around the left side of her body. On her hand and feet were thick, black gloves and boots. Not exactly the street clothes I was expecting. But it worked well enough. Just as long as it wasn't a Jedi robe. However, I did notice that she didn't bother hiding her lightsaber. It hung from her utility belt. Also attached to her belt were some small protruding handles. Handles like from throwing knives. Some of her unorthodox weaponry I assume.

She had fair skin and waist length blonde hair. The hair was braided into three separate tails that were then braided side-by-side into a single, larger tail that fell down her back. As most Miraluka did, she had something to cover her vestigial eye sockets. She wore a half mask that covered the upper half of her face. The mask looked like a creepy, humanoid monster. The forehead looked human, only with dark purplish-red skin. But it had these angry, white, pupil-less, narrow slit eyes that made it look devilish. The mask was tied in place by a black bandana strap.

She looked slightly older than myself and had a lithe build. As they approached us, she had her head lowered and a small grin on her face. With her mask's eyes and the way her head was lowered she looked like a stalking animal. She was creepy... She'd fit right in.

When they reached us they stopped in front of us. Zade bowed his head to us and spoke expressionlessly, "Well, we're here."

I raised an eyebrow, "Don't you sound enthusiastic? And what's with the bow? Stop acting like a Jedi around here."

He sighed, "Sorry, sorry. The day's been... interesting so far."

Annoli giggled and tilted her head towards Caily, "Heh, heh. Someone's been giving someone else a hard time."

Cailys smile grew. She spoke to us in a very strange voice. It sound gravelly and abrasive but also a little childish. Like a teenage girl with a heavily strained voice. She spoke to me, "Ah... You. Such a strong presence you have around you. Strange... but in a good, mighty way."

She then pointed towards Lwyn, "Ohh.. and you. You're a special one. You're blurry. Like a mist trying to hide from the Force." She reached out and grabbed Lwyn's face with her left hand and squeezed her cheeks, "If I wasn't touching you're mass right now I wouldn't be convinced that you were actually here."

She released Lwyn's face. Lwyn gave me a surprised look as if to say, "_Are you sure about this_?" I shrugged my shoulders. Lwyn turned to her and said, "Uhh.. W-Well. Yeah. Its kind of a trait I have."

"Fascinating!" Caily said, captivated by Lwyn and her ability to mask her presence in the Force.

"Are you saying you can mask yourself from the Force?" Zade asked Lwyn.

Lwyn took a step back, rubbing her cheek, "Uhh.. Yeah."

"Interesting." He said under his breath.

"Is that how you killed Brycers when you saved me? He didn't even see you coming." Annoli asked her. Lwyn nodded. Annoli snickered, "Cool."

Caily took a step back from us and put her hand to her chest, to signal to herself, "I am Master Keiral. Ready to serve for the good fight."

I singled to myself, "I'm-"

She interrupted me, "I already know who you three are from the Temple login file. No need to introduce yourselves to some one that already knows who you are."

"Umm..." I paused, "That's true."

"Then why did you introduce yourself to us? We knew who you were already." HotShot pointed out.

"Because I had no way of knowing if you knew me or not." Caily put simply.

"What?" HotShot questioned loudly, "Well we had no way of knowing if you knew about us."

"I know." She said, "That's why I interrupted you before you introduced yourselves. I find this conversation pointless."

HotShot clenched her fists and growled at her. Zade raised an irritated eyebrow, "And now you know what I've had to put up with today."

"If everyone finds my presence problematic I can leave." Caily told us.

"No." I assured her, "Not all. Don't listen to HotShot. She's like this with everyone."

"Hmm... I see." Caily said softly.

HotShot sneered at me. I innocently shrugged my shoulders at her, "You know it's true."

She huffed and started ignoring me. Typical. Lwyn then quickly nudged me in the rib and pointed behind Annoli and Zade. With a smile she told me, "Look."

I looked where she pointed while Annoli and Zade turned to look. She was pointing at three men walking towards us. Two humans and a Nautolan. Each wearing a plain, dark orange flight suit with black bags of their belongings over their shoulders. They hadn't noticed us yet as they were all chatting with each other as they walked.

The Nautolan was obviously our old buddy, Vayne. He hadn't changed much. Still had the same smile as always. Still had the green skin and his head-tresses common to his species. The only different thing, besides his clothing, was the way he walked. He seemed to have more of a confident swagger in his strides. The Vayne I knew two years ago seemed more reserved in his body language. He had grown allot in these couple of years, just as Lwyn and I had.

The man in the center of the three was the oldest of our entire group. A pale skinned, grizzly looking man with short, spiked, white hair and a long beard on his chin that was braided. At the end of his beard braid was a purple crystal. Probably a tradition of sorts from wherever he's from. He had kind of a hefty build. One of those builds where you first look at him and think he's kind of fat. But in reality its mostly just muscle. Country muscle. I was pretty sure this was Captain Lou Ailoko.

The one on the other end of the captain was a tan-skinned, baby-faced kid I knew very little about. I'm sure he was a young man but his face looked younger than Annoli's age. A boy. He had a very short crew cut hairstyle and big ears. Despite the childish looks of his face as well as short height, the kid was built. He looked like he could handle himself in most fist fights.

I could tell Lwyn wanted to go over and give Vayne a hug but I put my hand on her shoulder to hold her back. Didn't want to embarrass him in front of his friends. Zade was the first of us to acknowledge the three. He waved over to them, "Ah! Lou, we meet again."

The three of them turned to us. Vayne stood in his tracks when he saw us while Lou nodded to Zade, "Ah... Zade. I didn't know you were part of this."

Annoli turned to her Master, "You know him?"

HotShot snickered, "Of course they do. Everyone in the Republic seems to know each other."

Lou walked over to Zade and they shook hands as he lowered the bag over his shoulder, "Zade's probably the reason why I lived long enough to make my current rank."

Modestly, Zade denied the high praise "Now, now. I'm sure you could have dug yourself out of the sand pit on your own."

The baby-faced man joined us and stood at Lou's side. With a salute he told us, "Master Jedi, it is an honor to join-"

Lou barked at the kid, "Geez! A salute and naming a Master Jedi? We're supposed to be to disguised here."

His eyes grew wide and the kid dropped his salute, "S-Sorry!"

Vayne, who was still standing in place during this time, suddenly walked forward with a beaming smile on his face. He shouted towards us, "My Nautolan eyes must be playing tricks on me!"

He dropped his bag then jogged over to us with open arms. He pushed past his two Republic pals, and gave Lwyn a big hug, "I should have known you guys would be the only ones smart enough to hand pick me for this."

Lwyn hugged him back with one hand and patted him on the top of his head with her other hand, "Just so long as you haven't gotten rusty."

After their hug, Vayne came at me with open arms. I put my hand up when he reached me and pushed him away. With a smile I told him, "I don't think so. Remember? I told you the last hug was the last time."

He snorted, "C'mon, Laan! That's two years ago! Give your old buddy a hug."

I politely shook my head, "Nope."

We both laughed and settled on a sturdy hand shake and a pat on the back. Hotshot nodded towards Vayne, "Hey, Frogface."

Vayne nodded back, "Hey, HotHead."

"Looks like you two already know each other." Lou said as he motioned toward himself, "Since the kid already blurt out our positions, I'm Captain Lou Ailoko." He pointed his thumb at the kid, "And this is Private Rollo."

Rollo winced as he nodded towards me, "Sorry for blurting rank a moment ago."

"Don't worry about it. Whats done is done." I assured him, "Are you the one the Chancellor called a, 'war hero'?"

"D-Did he?" He stammered, "I-I don't know."

Lou smacked the kid in the back of the shoulders, "Yeah. This is him."

"I see. Well just keep doing more of what made you a 'war hero' and try not to die." I suggested to Rollo.

He nodded and almost saluted, but remembered where he was and held it back, "Y-Yes sir."

I seriously looked at Lou and asked him, "And you don't have any objections if I lead this mission?"

He responded, "I was told if I was asked to do something I absolutely don't agree with, I can refuse. If this is the case, then yes."

I nodded, "It is."

As we were talking, Caily made her way over to Vayne and told him, "You to have a mysterious presence around you too. Somewhat weaker though because you've neglected you're connections with the Force. It calls out for you, but you only hear it as a whisper."

He gave her a sour look, "Huh?"

"I think she means you haven't honed your connection to the Force." Lwyn interpreted.

"Oh." Vayne told us somewhat ashamed, "I've been kind of lax on my Force training. I've been busy passing the academy and stuff."

"You're a Force sensitive?!" Rollo asked him.

"I didn't know that. It wasn't in your file." Lou added.

Vayne laughed nervously, "Well, yeah. That's because I never told anyone inside the Republic. I thought they may want to use me for something else if they ever saw me with a lightsaber."

"Good thinking." Lou told him, "They'd probably take you out of the academy and put you to work somewhere else. You're secret is safe with me."

"And me." Rollo said.

I smiled and nodded my chin at Vayne, "So did you ever create your own lightsaber?"

He smiled back at me, "Yeah. Took me five duds and a year and a quarter time. But I got it built. I brought it with me. I'll show you later. How about you guys?"

"Yup." Lwyn told him, "I'm on my second one. Lost my first one in... unpleasantness... But this one is better anyways."

"How about you?" Vayne asked me.

"Yeah. Nine of them."

"Nine?!" Vayne and Annoli both repeated.

I explained, "One main lightsaber and eight.... lets call them _backups_."

Vayne understood what I was saying, "Ah. I remember_ that_ one."

"Remember what?" Annoli asked him.

He looked at her and played dumb, "Huh? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

HotShot then turned towards the port. She pointed inside of the archway towards a cluster of parked ships, "Looks like something's up."

We turned and saw a group of citizens forming around one of the dockways inside the port. Lwyn groaned, "Uh-oh. This can't be good."

"Whats wrong?" Zade asked.

The group was forming around the dockway that we had parked our transport ship at. I had a bad feeling that this wasn't a coincidence. I sighed as I answered him, "Umm.... Nothing. Just... lets us take care of this."

---\__**V**__/---

The crowd around the dockway had gathered around a blocky, brown transport ship as it sat parked on the dock. The crowd watched as three Iktotchi surrounded a human boy. The Iktotchi were a humanoid species with rough and resistant skin and two horns on the sides of their heads that curved and fell around their skulls. These three, two males and a female, all had their teeth filed to look like fangs.

The boy they were surrounding was only 1.5 meters tall at fifteen years of age. His skin was a dark tan in hue and his stringy, shoulder-length, hair was a pitch black color. He wore a white poncho over a dark green flightsuit. Hanging from his belt was a lightsaber handle. He stood defiantly against the three with his back up against the ship. He grit his teeth and clenched his hands into fists while one of the male Iktotchi took a step towards him. This Iktotchi was the leader of the three. He grinned maliciously at the boy, "Stop playing dumb you little infant. Tell me where Ceddes is!"

"Pssh!" The boy scoffed, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know any, 'Ceddes'. You must be-"

The boy was interrupted when the Iktotchi wound up and punched him in the face. The boy's head jerked back and slammed into the side of the ship. He groaned and slid down across the ship until he landed on his rear. He slowly brought his hand up to his mouth and touched it against his lips. It stung badly, as did the rest of his face. When he pulled his hand back, he found blood on his hands and could taste it in his mouth. He spit it out and cursed, "...! Gotto, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. When he gets back, you'll pay for that."

'Gotto' reached down with his massive Iktotchi hands and grabbed the boy by the neck. The boy reached for his lightsaber but thought twice and let Gotto yank him up by the neck until he got to his feet. When Gotto got the boy back to his feet, he slammed him hard against the ship, "Now, infant, tell me where Ceddes is! If you don't tell me, I'll leave a message for him by spraying his ship with your blood."

The crown just stood by and watched this happen. The boy was close to reaching for his lightsaber but he didn't have to. Because out of nowhere, Gotto's head was thrust forward, above the boy's shorter body, and slammed into the side of the ship. The distraction was enough for the boy to squirm from his grip and ran away from him.

Gotto shook the pain from his skull and turned to see what had attacked him. That's when he saw me, with my arm out stretched towards him. I had come from the crowd and Force pushed his head into the transport. I sneered at him, "Gotto! You damn coward!"

He laughed, "There you are, Ceddes. I figured if I made enough commotion to you're infant, you'd show up."

"Moron!" I shouted at him, "Haven't you already figured out that, that is even my real name?"

He growled at me, "You're the moron, Cedd-... Whoever you are! You're trapped."

Just then, half the watching crowed, as well as his two Iktotchi partners, drew blasters and pointed them at me. Most of the crowd panicked and scattered. Only a few remained. I think Gotto thought I'd be alone when he planned this trap. But he chose the wrong day to mess with me. What little of the crowd that had remained were are with me. Zade, Annoli, Caily, Lou, Vayne, Rollo, and Hotshot stood behind me. Zade calmly walked over to my side, "Oh boy. What is this all about?"

"Who are you?" Gotto asked Zade and the others.

"I'd like to ask _you_ that." Zade barked at him, "Harming a boy and drawing weapons at us? I suggest you drop your weapons."

"Don't bother." I told Zade, "There is no talking to this thick-skull."

"Shut up!" Gotto screamed at me, "About time I kill you and take back whats mine!"

"Please." Zade pleaded, "I don't think anyone wants to cause needless attention to ourselves with this violence."

As a Jedi, Zade had to try and mediate his way out of things, no mater how futile the effort is. I whispered over to him, "You _did _bring your lightsaber, right?"

"Yes." He whispered back, "Lets just try and not kill all of them?"

"Deal." I ended the whisper and shouted to Gotto, "C'mon dumb-dumb, what's your end game here? You kill us and then you get arrested."

The female Iktotchi shouted back, "The great Gotto can never be arrested-"

It didn't matter what she said. The only reason I even continued this pointless conversation was to use the word, "dumb-dumb" which was a playful little signal to Lywn. When she heard the signal, she leapt from the top of the transport ship where she had snuck to earlier. She landed in between Gotto and his two lackeys. Before any of the three had realized she was there, Lwyn spun her body around and took the four knuckles of her right hand and cracked Gotto under the jaw. He reared back and found himself landing on his butt with his back against the ship just as he did to the kid. Only Lwyn hit him hard enough to knock him out.

Thats when chaos broke loose. Seeing their leader crippled by a punch from a human girl, the armed crowd opened fire on us. Our response was to remove every concealed lightsaber or blaster we had hidden on our person. Zade took out his two yellow sabers and twirled them in front of us to deflect any blaster bolt that came near him. Since we were standing side-by-side, he also deflected the bolts headed my way. I didn't even have to reach for my own saber. Instead, I pointed my two hands outward at Gotto's two toadies. I unleashed my trademarked, "Force Point" attack. A modified and concentrated version of the Force Push. I pinpointed their heads and took all of the power and energy of a wide-spread Force Push and funneled it into a single point. Making it stronger and potentially lethal. Since I aimed at their heads, I held back so as not to kill them. Instead of crushing their skull's I just sent them flying backwards at Gotto's feet. Unconscious and probably with a concussion.

Everything else around us happened rather quickly. Blaster bolts were deflected away from us and we retaliated. Either with a deflection from a saber or shot from a blaster. More than half of the enemy was struck down from our retaliation and the rest surrender immediately. I don't think they planned on seeing so many lightsabers when they planned this one out. Zade held his sabers down by his side and asked me, "Okay. What was this all about?"

I didn't answer him. I really wasn't paying attention to him. I walked away from him and headed for the boy that Gotto was picking on. He was leaning against a wall, holding his face. Softly I asked him, "Jaxter. Are you okay?"

He removed his hand from his face and looked up at me, "I'm fine. Just a little beat."

Lwyn ran over to us, rubbing the knuckles in her punching hand, and asked him, "What happened here, Jaxter?"

He spit out a small amount of blood before explaining, "I was just standing around the ship, waiting. Like you told me. Then, I don't know, Gotto and his goons must have landed at the same port. They recognized me and started asking questions about you. Then it got physical."

"I doubt this was a chance meeting They must have seen us land here a few days ago and planed this out from there." I looked down at him and apologized, "Sorry that you got put in the middle of this, Jaxter."

He wiped more blood from his cheek, "Don't worry about it."

Lwyn put her hands on her hips and laughed, "Ha! Jax, I can't believe you didn't take out your lightsaber and cut some limbs."

He groaned, "I thought about it. Believe me, I thought about it. But then I realized if I cut hem down into corpse-meat, I'd draw unwanted attention to our group and get us into trouble."

I smiled proudly at him and patted him on the back of the neck, "I'm proud that you showed restraint and thought this out in the heat of the moment. I guess letting you construct your own lightsaber wasn't premature."

He grinned and cockily gestured his hands at himself, "Of course. I'm a thinking-man."

"But you don't have to sit back and take a beating, _junior_." I scolded him slightly, "Yes, its good to think about the consequences of your actions. And yes it is smart to try and not to escalate an already volatile situation. But when you get punched and your life is threatened, you better fight back."

"What?" He seemed stunned by what I just said, "But when I built my lightsaber you told me I had to be aware of when and who I use my lightsaber against."

"You can't rely on your lightsaber alone." I nodded my head at Lwyn, "Look at Lwyn and I. We didn't use our lightsabers either. I mean, Lwyn just reeled back and jacked Gotto in the jaw! Nice job by the way."

She smiled prouldy, "Thanks."

He dropped his head in defeat, "I thought I was doing the right thing too."

"You did. You just learned a lesson the hard way. It happens." I assured him.

Lwyn patted him on the shoulder, "Come on Jaxter, lets go put something on that face of yours."

Jaxter Marj'jow. A Force sensitive orphan that we came across during our travels to Yir Tangee. Just over a year ago some Sith were trying to kidnap him and take him to an academy. Much like the incident that started my life away from Lanoul and into Hyarsythe. Anyways, Jaxter took a cleaving knife to them. Four Sith taken down by a teenager with a cleaver. It was graphic but the accomplishment was legendary. HotShot and I found him hiding in a back alley. Huddling in fear with his cleaver gripped tightly in his hands. We helped him to a warm meal and warm bed. When we tried leaving he followed us back to our ship. Ever since then Jaxter's been one of us and I've mentored him.

As Lwyn and I were talking with Jaxter, two Republic soldiers on speeders arrived at the scene. They saw our group rounding up Gotto's group and drew their blasters. One of the soldiers barked orders at us, "Everyone drop your weapons or we will fire!"

Lou tossed his blaster aside and shouted to them, "Pardon me, boys." He squinted at the two and noticed they were both women, "Erm... ladies. I am with the Republic."

One of the soldiers recognized him, "Captain Ailoko?"

He walked over to them, "That's right." When he reached them he put his index finger up to his lips to gesture to be quite. He then whispered loudly, "Me and my friends here are undercover, you see. These others decided to pick a fight with us so we had to take care of things. Sorry for the mess."

"We'll arrest these delinquents."

"And we're free to go?" He asked.

She nodded, "Of course, Captain."

He smiled gratefully, "Thank you very much."

Seeing that Lou and the soldiers had taken care of the situation, Vayne switched his blue lightsaber off and tucked it back into his bag. Rollo tucked his small pistol into his belt and awed at Vayne's saber, "Whoa. You really do have a lightsaber? Awesome."

Vayne smiled widely, "Yeah. Took me awhile to built it to."

"And it's blue." He said quizzically, "I thought you would have gone with one of those green blades because-"

Vayne glared at Rollo and asked abruptly, "Because why?"

"Umm..." Rollo paused nervously as he looked at Vayne's green skin, "B-Because... they say geniuses like green."

Annoli giggled as she switched off her remolded, dual green lightsabers, "Well that_ is _true." Annoli asked Caily as she held her light green lightsaber at her side, "Isn't that right?"

Caily switched her blade off, "Color makes no difference to me for I cannot distinguish color... but yes. That sounds about right."

Vayne shook his head at Rollo, "Yeah, whatever."

"Sorry." Rollo said softly.

Vayne laughed and gently punched Rollo in the shoulder, "Just messing with you. For a tough war hero, you sure are timid."

"Nah." Annoli said on Rollo's behalf, "He's not timid. He's just a shy lil' fellow."

Vayne and Annoli both laughed teasingly at Rollo's expense. Meanwhile, Lwyn had taken a first-aid kit and began healing Jaxter's wounds. While she was doing that Zade walked over to me. He leered at me, "Now, care to tell me what just happened?"

I pointed at Gotto. He was placed in binders by one of the solders and led away. As he was being taken, he turned and glared evilly at me. I returned his glare with an obscene gesture. I explained to Zade, "Gotto's just some punk with a vendetta. An ex-bounty hunter. A couple years ago he was arrested and he was forced to lend a Hutt his ship to pay off a loan. I bought his ship from the Hutt straight up and hes been pissed about it ever since. Up until now hes been a minor nuisance so I've always let him go. After this he better hope he's imprisoned for a long time. I won't let him come after me again."

Zade clenched his jaw and lowered his eyebrows, "Revenge is an emotion that leads to the Dark side. I know you're not a Jedi but I don't want to see you head down a dark path you can't turn back from."

Oh boy. Here we go. I was wondering when this would start. I tried to hold my tongue and asked him with a restrained flatness in my voice, "You saw what he did to Jaxter and you can guess what he was willing to do if he wasn't stopped. Would you rather I sit back and let him come after us again? Maybe my wife next time?"

Zade and I both knew that if we continued this... _spirited debate_... things wouldn't end well. We both had our strong views on morals and life based around the Force. Zade was first to concede for now, "I suppose this isn't the time to talk about this. We've been delayed long enough."

"Right."I said as I walked past him and towards the others. He turned and followed behind me. As we walked I suddenly stopped which caused him to stop behind me. Without looking back at him I asked, "Just tell me this. If your padawan was in danger and you had the choice to possibly compromise a mission to save her, would you?"

He paused for awhile as he thought about it, "Jedi instruction tell us that in such a situation we must separate ourselves from or emotional connection to our padawan and let them fend for themselves."

I grit my teeth at his response, "So you'd leave her?"

"No." He told me, "Depending on the gravity of the current situation I would try to help her."

"In spite of the Jedi instructions?"

He sighed loudly, "Yes. I suppose I would. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

I shot him a grin over the back of my shoulder, "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't wrong to chose you. I wasn't."

He smirked back at me, "I guess that's good to know." He then rubbed his chin and told me, "But you know, you and I are going to be butting heads allot."

I turned back to face him and laughed, "Yeah. I know. We'll just have to make sure we don't make it personal."

He scoffed sarcastically, "I would never! After all, I am a Jedi."

I grinned and reminded him, "Yeah, but I'm not."


	3. Chapter 3: Zenith Black

Chapter 3: Zenith Black

--- --- --

I was at the controls of the brown, stocky transport as we were in hyperspace. There was one seat for the pilot while everyone else got cramped into two long benches. I was the lucky one. They were crammed shoulder to shoulder. At least the trip wasn't going to be long. We left our cruiser ship on a spaceport not to far from Coruscant. It was the closest spaceport that I knew of I felt I could leave my cruiser without getting reported to the Republic. Because... Well it wouldn't be passing any legal inspections any time soon.

I had my seat swiveled backwards towards the others as a few conversations were going on. Lwyn had removed a glove from her hand and showed Vayne her wedding ring. Out wedding rings were simple. Just plain rings made from melted down scraps. Scraps taken from a Sith base we destroyed. It wasn't very romantic but we both thought it was a cool idea. Vayne had a big smile on his face, "Well I guess I'm not really surprised you two got married. Who else would marry one of you?"

"True." I said with a grin, "This isn't the most romantic of jobs in the universe and luckily I found one of the least romantic women in the universe."

Lwyn shrugged her shoulders, 'Ehh? Well I can't really disagree with you there."

Annoli leaned over and looked at Lwyn's ring, "So where did you two meet?"

"Uhm.. erm... well..." Lwyn stammered.

I grinned, "Hyarsythe."

Zade snickered, "Oh? I'm sure that's got to be a good story."

Lwyn smiled proudly, "The first time we met, me faced off in a duel and I beat him down."

"It was a draw. Outside interference." I corrected her.

"Perhaps. But I _would_ have won." She countered.

I conceded the point, "Well, yeah. That's true."

Zade leaned forward, closer to Lwyn and asked her, "May I ask more about this trait you said you have. You can mask yourself from the Force? Truly?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I don't even know how long I've been able to do it. I was discovered on J'Rekk by Yuelt Roxxa and brought into the Sith."

"You're trained by Darth Vultous' apprentice?" Caily asked.

"Yes. Her and other Sith trained me at first." She explained, "But then I met Laan and he led Vayne and I away from the Sith."

Zade smiled at me, "Is that so?"

"Are you really that surprised by a kind gesture from me?" I asked with an amused smile.

He shook his head, "No. Not at all. Just a nice story to hear."

Well if he thought this was a nice story, I was going to leave out the part where I slayed or drowned everyone not named Lwyn or Ty'Vayne on on the base.

Lwyn continued, "Over the years, with Laan's help, I've gained more control of my abilities."

Lou turned to Vayne and asked him, "So you really used to be a Sith?"

Vayne's face fell, "It's nothing I'm proud of. I just got caught up in something I didn't understated."

Lou patted him on the knee, "Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything."

He forced a smile, "It's fine."

I heard a blip come from behind me and I swiveled my chair back to the control panel. I announced to everyone, "Ah, we'll be coming out of Hyperspace soon."

"Can't come soon enough." Hotshot said under her breath as she sat wedged between a wall and Rollo. As she shifted in her seat she barked at Rollo, "Hey! Watch where you put your hands!"

Rollo's face turned red, "I-I'm sorry ma'am. I wasn't even aware I had my hands anywhere inappropriate."

She laughed at him, "Relax. I was just kidding. You need to man up there, 'war hero'."

He lowered his head, "So people keep telling me."

Oh boy. I hope Rollo was a different man on the battlefield because off the field he was an awkward little boy. And Rasch wanted to promote this kid? He was going to be lucky to survive this mission! I didn't want his death on my conscience. If he didn't improve I was going to have to talk to him later.

A minute later we came out of Hyperdrive just outside the territory of the spaceport. The station looked like a massive nail. The top was a large disc for smaller ships to dock as well as the resting area for the spacers to stretch their legs. Bellow the disk was a long, thin pillar that stretched down from beneath. Larger ships like my cruiser would hook up to the pillar when they docked.

Annoli looked outside the front viewport and saw the station. She asked us, "So which one is yours?"

I pointed towards a ship docked on the bottom of the pillar. A cruiser over 200 yards long. A wide but sleek looking cruiser. It had two, curved, shell-like, sides. The sides were angled into dull tips, both front and back and were made from a sleek and smooth material. Though, the smooth sides did have a couple of battle scars on them. Originally they were bright yellow but we had painted them black.

The center of the ship was a simple, rectangular body that the shell-sides hugged and protected around the sides. The middle body was painted bronze. That was also originally yellow in color. Sleek, pretty fast, comfortable, and well armed (though most of it's weapons were concealed, heh heh) were all good words of explaining it. As I pointed I told Annoli, "That's it. That's our home."

"Wow." She said in awe.

"Not bad." Lou told me, "It looks like a nice ship. But looks aren't everything. All that matters is it's joints and heart. Does it got that?"

"You'd better believe it." HotShot told him with a confident grin, "We got on of the best mechanics in the universe to keep this baby in fighting condition."

He raised a questionable eyebrow at her, "Do you know how many, 'best mechanics in the universe' I've heard of before? Most of their ships were reduced to cinders." He pointed towards our ship, "Yeah, she may have a few scratches on her, but your ships is still shiny. Almost new out of the box. Ships need to be broken in."

"The paint job is new." Lwyn told him, "The body and soul are experienced enough."

"Besides," I told Lou, "We won't be using this ship unless its a last resort. So if all goes well, it won't matter. But if we must use it, we're in fine hands."

"Whats it's name?" Vayne asked.

"Zenith Black." I told him with a smile.

"Ah. A tribute to the Zellblack I assume?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Speaking of names, you never did mention the name of your little operation here, Laan." Zade told me.

"You can call us the 'Swyren'." Lwyn told him.

"That's an unusual name. Where did you come up with that?" He asked again.

"Maybe I'll tell you that someday. For now, I doubt you'd understand." I explained.

I took the ship towards the underbelly of the Zenith Black. Near the rear of the ship, a panel opened and I took the ship up into the Zenith. That's when they got their first looks at the inside of the Zenith. The hanger. Even though the Zenith was a tribute to the "Zellblack Gravesite", it wasn't nearly as big nor was it as pretty on the inside. All the interior in the Zenith was either one of many shades of gray. Usually darker shades. In a few spots the interior was the same yellow color that the exterior of the ship used to be before we acquired it. The hanger had racks for starfighters to dock just like the Zellbalck had. Only far less of them. Vayne noticed one ship in particular on the racks. My starfighter, 'Sforzando'. He smiled, "Glad to see its still in one piece."

I landed the ship on the hanger floor and opened the back ramp. Everyone got out. I was last. Outside we were met by the half-humanoid, half-serpent, Sbaki. The mech-wiz. Not surprising to us, she barley noticed any of us organics that exited the transport. Sbaki's priority was getting the transport ship into it's proper place. Vayne even greeted her but Sbaki didn't even acknowledge him. I rolled my eyes and excused her actions to everyone, "Ignore Sbaki. As long as she has something to do, she won't talk much. Almost droid-like. Anyways, why wait around here in the hanger? Why don't we head to the viewing hold?"

Sbaki suddenly stopped her work with the transport and turned to me, "Oh yesss. You're needed on the bridge."

"Why?" I asked her.

"We got a transmission from the twinsss." She said before turning back to her work.

"Crap." I turned to Jaxter, "Hey, junior. You wanna show everyone to the viewing area?"

He nodded, "Sure."

"Is something wrong?" Zade asked me.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I'll keep you updated." I answered.

I motioned for Lwyn and HotShot to come with me as we began to leave the hanger. Meanwhile, Jaxter motioned for the others to follow him, "C'mon. I'll be your tour guide around the illustrious, Zennith Black." He winked at Annoli and offered her his hand, "If you'll allow me."

She scowled and backed away from him, "Ugh.. dream on, kid!"

"Knock it off!" I barked over my shoulder at Jaxter as we exited the hanger.

The three of walked down the main corridor of the ship, a hallway down the direct center of the ship. We passed the Hyperdrive room and maintenance rooms, past the sleeping quarters, and into a intersection. To the right was the viewing hold where we spent most of our time during long trips. The holo-vid was in that room along with more comfortable seating and livings. To the left there was what we called the, "cache room". At first glance it looked like a plain room with fine collections (or at least very good lookalikes) of art. But it was actually just a false room with a retractable floor that led to the real room with some of our less-than-legal cargo. We weren't smugglers or anything but to fight the Sith we needed the illegal tools of the trade. Straight ahead was the bridge.

We went straight and entered the bridge. The brain of the ship. The main controls and main viewport were in the front, the ship's main computers were along the side of the room, and in the middle there was a large map/holo-vid pedestal. Standing around the bridge were three droids. A pilot droid, maintenance droid, and navigation droid. All of them were humanoid droids with flat heads made up of mainly a visor panel for sight and a slant under the visor for a voice box. All three a jade green in color though each had a different colored left arm to distinguish them. "Pilot" had a red arm, "Main" had a yellow arm, and "Nav" had a white arm. We left the bridge to them whenever no one else was around. Just to look after things. If there was ever an emergency these three could handle the Zenith to an extent. Pilot, the lead droid, stood and greeted us, "Welcome back. The Twi'twins left you an urgent message only a few moments ago."

The Twi'twins were refugees that joined our cause a half year ago. A male and female Twi'lek pair. Their names respectively, Rento the male and Xelka the female. They weren't actually related but they both had chalk-white skin and were born only a week apart. I think Rento was the eldest. Both of them were around 22 years of age and both were Force sensitive. Though neither used lightsabers. They also acted allot like brother and sister even thought they weren't. Anyways, we left them on Mautmua with the natives to aid if they needed any help while the rest of us were away.

We walked over to the holo-pedestal and I told Main to play the video. The lights dimmed and a holo-image of the twins popped up above the pedestal. Both of them wearing their usual armor. Black and dark red, not that you could see the colors over the vid, hard-leather was completely strapped around their bodies. They even had helmets made of the leather that covered all of their heads. Clear goggles over the eyes, a tight mesh that wrapped around their head-tails, and a removable faceplate they took out when they talked. During this transmission they had the plates removed. Xelka spoke first, "Hey you guys! Things are strange here."

"Yeah." Rento said, "I think you better get over here as soon as possible."

"Tell them what happened!" Xelka scolded him.

"Fine!" He barked at her, "Okay, so some scouts saw a large Sith warship arrive up north."

"And the Turr'shek have been acting bizarre." Xelka said before turning to Rento, "How would you explain it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Umm... skittish?"

"No." Xelka said as she rubbed her chin and thought.

HotShot groaned under her breath, "...Just get to it already, Xelka."

Xelka suddenly pointed her finger upwards as she thought of the word, "Paranoid!"

Rento shook his head, "No. I don't think that's right either."

She slapped him on the shoulder, "Yes it is!"

"Fine! Whatever! Paranoid!" He barked back at her as he folded his arms over his chest.

HotShot lowered her head, "For the love of..."

Xelka turned back to the vid and explained, "They've left a few of their strongholds almost completely abandoned. Then they'll come back. Then leave again."

He nodded, "Some attacked a village but they didn't take anything. It was almost as if they just did it for show or something. Anyways, the War Head is trying to figure things out over here and he's getting nervous that we're not here for this."

"So yeah you better get here soon." She told us.

Rwnto removed a pistol from his belt and pumped his arm, "We'll take care of things until then. You can count on us."

The recording ended and the lights went back on. Lwyn shook her head at the situation, "I don't like this. I've got a bad feeling."

"Yeah." I said with a sigh as I leaned forward on the pedestal, "Me too."

"I hope the Twi'twins will be alright." HotShot added.

"They'll be fine." I assured her, "The feeling I get is off in the distance. There is still time."

"Are you getting a vision?" Lwyn asked me with a gentle hand on my right forearm.

"Not exactly." I looked in her eyes and told her, "No. Whatever this is I I feel that it won't be a problem for now. Just to be safe though we better leave now."

"I've already gone ahead and paid the station for our docking as per Sbaki's order." Pilot mentioned.

"Good." I told him. I turned to Main and asked, "Open a ship-com will ya?"

He opened the com and responded, "Done."

I was now sending a voice message through the entire ship, "Hey it's Laan. We've gotten reports of strange activity on Mautmua so we're going to leave right away. So get ready for take off."

Then Sbaki's voice echoed through the bridge as she spoke back through the com, "I'll need just a couple of minutesss."

"Is five minutes enough?"

"Plenty." She responded.

"Okay. Five minutes it is." I told her.

"We'll be more than able to take the Zenith to Mautmua if you wish to join your guests during take off." Pilot informed me.

"Good. Do that." I told him.

The three of us turned to leave but before Lwyn and I left the bridge she grabbed my arm and held me back. I stopped and looked her in the eyes, "Whats up?"

Lwyn waited until HotShot left the room before kissing me on the lips and asking me, "How are you feeling?"

I smiled, puzzled, "Fine. Why?"

"That feeling I got when the twins updated us. Mine was pretty strong. And if I can feel it I know you must have felt it tenfold. I just want to make sure you're not holding back on me... again."

I rolled my eyes, "Are you still on that? I already promised you that the next time I get a horrible vision you'll be the first one I tell. That feeling we got could have been anything. I wouldn't read much into it. At least not yet."

"Alright. If you say so." She said cynically.

I grinned, "I do say so and what I say goes around her, little lady."

She turned her back to me and harshly responded, "_Little lady_?! You're getting a butt of lightsaber handle across your head in your sleep for that one."

---\__**V**__/---

After Pilot took us away from the space station and into Hyperdrive, everyone seemed to go off on their own. Lou, Rollo, and Caily all headed to their sleeping quarters to unpack and rest. I gave permission for Vayne to head to the bridge and ask Pilot to show him how to pilot the Zenith. HotShot went along with Vayne to tease him a bit and trade stories. Sbaki was off doing something with the ship. That left the rest of us in the viewing hold. I told Jaxter to go get us something warm to drink. I think he was making Annoli uncomfortable so I wanted to give her a break. I think Jax had himself a little crush... Dummy. Annoli was way out of his league.

As we sat Zade and Annoli traded a few stories with Lwyn and I. They told us of a mission where they had to track down a fugitive across the galaxy. Their mission started on Courscant. Then Dantooine. There they found the fugitive's wife and child but they didn't want to do anything with the scum bag so they kicked Zade and Annoli out of their house. From a neighbor they got a tidbit that the fugitive could have gone to Sinsang to visit his mistress and reason why his family hated him. When they got to Sinsang they met his mistress and she wasn't very pleased with him either. Awhile back he stole some of her money before breaking up with her. But she did tell Zade and Annoli that he had a hideout in Subterrel. So they went there and found nothing. After that they gave up and headed back to Coruscant.

Lwyn asked them, "So after all that you never caught him? That sucks."

Annoli shook her head gloomily, "Nope. We never caught him because he was uncatchable."

Zade explained, "I was still bothered that we never found him so a month ago I thought I may as well double check the Subterrel lead because I truly felt that there was something to it. I checked the planet's database and found a report off a mining accident where an unidentifiable body was found inside a mine shaft."

Annoli leaned forward and with her best, creepy voice she told us, "It was unidentifiable because it was caught inside a shaft with toxic fumes. It killed the person and shriveled his body into a dried husk."

Zade elbowed her, "That's gross, Annoli."

"That's what happened." She argued. She turned back to us and told us, "Anyways, that husk was the fugitive. We knew it was him by some of the belongings they found with the body."

Zade sighed, "He was dead before we even began our quest to catch him."

Lwyn and I both laughed. She winced as she laughed, "That's gotta hurt."

"Not as much as it hurt the dead, dried husk." Annoli pointed out.

"So..." Zade said as he sat back into his seat, "I don't mean to press the issue, but if I'd be allowed I'd like to hear more about what you did on Hyarsythe. It's quite fascinating."

So we told them a few things about Hyarsythe. How I went from a junk shop owner on Lanoul to infiltrating the Sith. I explained about the Sithrimi. I talked a bit about meeting Lwyn and Vayne though most of that was already covered. I even told them a few things about how we tricked Lokindr and Ollose against each other and led them to believe we had sided with them. Only to turn on them and take out the base. I left out most of the more gruesome parts. Like the killing of the many, many Sith students and troopers. I ended by telling them how I hacked into the Sith's Citadel and my holo-vid conversation with the Dark Lord of the Sith. Zade sat forward with ecstatic interest, "You saw the Dark Lord?"

I shook my head, "No. I only learned their name. Darth Rajjor."

He rubbed his chin, "I see."

"Wow!" Annoli said, "I can't believe you guys did all that. That was like... genius!"

"Indeed." Zade also complimented us with high praise, "I honestly would have thought it impossible to head into a Sithrimi, surround yourself with Sith and their teachings, and make out without falling to the Dark Side."

I wrapped my hand around Lwyn's shoulder, "Well we're one of a kind."

Zade smiled as he thought out loud, "I think there may be more to it than that."

"Huh?"

Zade still had a smile on his face, "Lwyn, Vayne, Jaxter, and those Twi'twins you were telling me about. All of them Force sensitive and outcasts of some sort."

I laughed, "What are you saying?"

"I wonder if they were all drawn to you through the Force." Zade told me, "You seem to live in the gray between the light and dark. Something very few are able to do without turning their back on the Force all together. Yet all these individuals have found you, Laan, and have found a stability in the gray. I think there is something about you that allows this stability."

"Hmm..." I said as I thought about it, "Maybe... I guess."

Lwyn scoffed at me, "Wha? I tell you that all the time."

"No you don't." I argued, "You say stuff like I'm you're guys' leader and you all look to me but you've never said that maybe their was a reason behind it."

"Well... Okay that's true." She conceded. Under her breath she said, "I could have sworn I said that once before."

Jaxter entered the room with a tray of cups. He placed them on a table and sat down on a chair. Zade reached over and grabbed a cup of tarine tea. He took a sip before asking Jax, "So, Jaxter, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

"Umm..." He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm uhh... I don't know."

I slumped my head back into the backrest of my chair, "Oi..."

"What else can I say?" He complained, "I eat, I sleep, I train, I fight the Sith. Day done. I'm a man of action. Not words."

"You're not a man yet." Lwyn corrected him.

"Details." He argued.

I looked over to Annoli and Zade, "Just ignore Jaxter."

Annoli smiled at me, "Ignore _who_?"

"That's not very nice." Zade scolded her.

"Sorry." She said under her voice.

"That's fine." Jax told her with a smile, "I could never stay mad at a fellow trainee."

"Uhh.. r-right." She responded awkwardly.

Zade thankful changed the subject when he asked, "I don't know much about Mautmua. Exactly how far is it from here?"

"A little ways. We won't arrive until tomorrow." I told him.

"I hope we don't arrive too late or anything." Annoli said.

"I'm sure we'll be fine." I assured her, "If anything does happen the twins should be able to take care of things until we arrive."

Just then HotShot and Vayne came walking into the viewing room. Vayne smiled pleasingly, "Not a bad ship you have here. I'm jealous."

"You learn how those operate it?" Lwyn asked.

"Yeah. This bridge has been updated with some Corellian mods and I'm pretty familiar with those." He explained.

"Good. If we need the Zenith at any point during this I know I can leave it in your hands." I told him

He bowed to me, "The honor would be all mine."

HotShot sighed, "This is always the boring part of space travel. The traveling part. I'm going to the shooting range. Anyone up for a lesson?"

"You have a shooting range on board?" Zade asked.

"Sort of." She told him, "We made a little training area set up in a portion of the main cargo hold." She nodded her chin at Annoli, "How about you? Wanna know how to shoot a blaster if you ever get caught without your lightsaber?'

Annoli looked to Zade, "I don't know. Can I?"

"I don't see why not. Its always good to have a few back up plans." He told her.

HotShot turned to Vayne, "How about you, Frogface? Did they teach you to shoot in your little flight school?"

"They taught me enough. There's no way I'm letting you teach me anything." He told her with a restrained chuckle.

"Alright." Annoli agreed as she and HotShot went off to the cargo hold.

Vayne took Annoli's seat next to Zade. Zade took another sip of his tea, "What type of planet is Mautmua? What should I expect?"

"Good question." I told him, "It's a multi-terrain planet. Seas, forests, plains, mountains, and so on. But most of the area we'll be dealing with is mountain-plains and wastelands. The wastelands didn't always exists though. Not until the Sith's factories were built."

"What natural life existed around the Sith lands were torn down to be used as materials or just to make more lands to extended their facilities." Lwyn added, "Not to mention the pollution they cause and moisture they absorb destroys the nature around them."

Zade lowered his head, "It's such a shame. There are so few temperate planets in the galaxy. The few should be preserved."

"Though if we do rid Mautmua of the Sith and the secret gets out that the planet is multi-terrain the colonists will start coming. Or worse yet, the smugglers. You could be trading a great evil for a lesser but more wide-spread evil." Vayne pointed out.

"We thought of that." Lwyn told him, "We have a few ideas to hopefully keep Mautmua a secret but we'll come to that when we get there."

"If worse comes to worse, Sbaki and I just amplify the Sith's weak planetary shield. They already went to the effort to build it, it would be a shame to let it go to waste." I said.

Lwyn nodded, "Whatever it takes to keep the Senate away from Mautmua. They don't have to get their greasy paws on every planet."

Zade raised his cup of tea up in a toast, "I'm all for sticking it to the Senate."

I reached over and grabbed a cup of tea, "I'll toast to that."

"Oh!" Lwyn called out, "And the Curakunda. You should be warned that not all of them are excepting of us outsiders. They're big and strong and have a temper."

"The Curakunda all look like look they're smiling and jolly because of the way their lips are shaped." I explained, "But that can be deceptive because they're ruthless warriors. If they like you, they _are_ nice and jolly. But if they don't like you, you better run away and never look back. If you see one of them smile at you more than usual, to the point of showing their teeth, you know you've pissed them off."

"Duly noted." Vayne told me, "Is there anything I should know not to do so I don't make them smile at me?"

"Yeah. Don't be a Sith." Lwyn told him, "As long as we're helping them and we stay in the War Head's favor, nobody will lay a hand on us even if they don't like us. Unless you give them reason too."

"And the War Head's a pretty reasonable guy. We shouldn't have a problem." I added.

"Do they speak Basic?" Zade asked.

"Yes. The human colonists taught them. Their voices are gruff but they speak pretty well." Lwyn answered..

"I'm quite excited to meet them." Zade said, "I enjoy meeting new species." He then frowned and rubbed his bald head, "Just so long as they don't make me shave my head again."

Vayne laughed, "I don't think they could make you shave any more than bald skin, Zade."

The trip through Hypserspace was taken pretty lightheartedly. Allot of us had interesting stories to tell one another. It was a very communicative trip. All but Caily took part in the conversations. She stayed in her room in deep mediation for most of the trip. Only leaving her room to grab a bite to eat. I noticed Annoli spent allot of time around Lwyn. Her new hero, apparently. And Jaxter seemed to follow Annoli around everywhere.

It was cliched, but this was the calm before the storm. Everyone was upbeat and having fun. It happened allot before something major when people were putting their lives on the line. This could be out last night alive so why sulk around. Have fun and hope to see another day. Because Mautmua was deadly and I knew that not everybody currently on broad this ship would be on it when we finished the mission and headed home. Assuming any of us survive that is.


	4. Chapter 4: Mautmua

Chapter 4: Mautmua

--- --- ---

We had been traveling for about a day now. Vayne, Annoli, and I had joined on the bridge. Vayne had been analyzing some more programs for the Zenith. Annoli wanted to come here because she liked watching the colorful distortion of outside space during Hyperspace and the bridge had the best view. So I took her to the bridge and showed her around. She had changed into her regular padawan uniform.

The three droids were all standing aside waiting for when they were needed. Vayne was sitting in the chair of the main controls while I was leaning against a support column next to the main controls. The two of us were having a discussion about Vayne's flight academy when a small blipping sound came from the control panel. Vayne looked down, "We'll be out of Hypserspace in a few minutes."

"Great." I told him, "Vayne, activate the com."

"Alrighty." He said as he hit a button on the panel.

I then began speaking throughout the entire ship, "Hey everybody. We'll be arriving at Mautmua shortly. Start packing everything you'll need to take down on the planet because we'll be leaving in an hour. Sbaki, start getting the transport ready."

I then signaled for Vayne to close the com. Which he did. Annoli walked over to us and asked me, "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"No. Just go with Zade and do whatever he tells you to do." I answered.

She bowed her head to me, "Okay."

She began walking for the exit when we came out of Hyperspace. We all turned towards the viewport and saw a tiny speck of a planet off in the distance. It was barley noticeable in the sea of stars. I signaled for Vayne to take us closer to the planet. He did so without fault. Annoli turned back from the exit and walked towards the veiwport to get a better look as the speck got bigger and bigger. When the outline of the planet became more noticeable, she squinted at the planet, "What is that shape around the planet?"

I waited to answer her until it became more visible. When we got close enough I patted Vayne on the shoulder, "Alright. Stop here."

He halted the ship in a safe distance away form the planet. From here the planet only looked the size of a rancor so we were still kind of far away. But this was the closest I felt we could get without being detected by the Sith on the world. While we were stopped I pointed to the top of the planet's globe and answered her question, "You see the north pole?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

I moved my finger and pointed towards a long strip of continent that began at the north of the planet and fell diagonally south-west. The top of the continent was white from the wintery poll. The rest of it was mostly colored with greens and browns. Though if we were closer we'd be able to see an unnatural patch of brown in the greener sections. Brown wasteland caused by the Sith. I explained to her, "The planet has one main continent with thousands of smaller islands around it. They call the continent the 'Slash Land'. Because of the way it looks. Like a giant slash mark from the north pole, all the way down to the south-west edge of the globe."

I then pointed towards a ring of rocky particles around the planet. It was a light ring that formed around the plant's equator. I explained, "They call that the 'Mountain Sky'. The indigenous have thousands of legends surrounding the planetary ring. While they haven't ever since they discovered space travel, the ring used to be thought of as a type of religious plane and treated as holy. Now the Sith use that ring to hide their satellites. There in the ring, the satellites orbit and project the weak planetary shield around Mautmua. Since they project from the ring around the equator the shield is weaker at the north and south pole. That's where we can enter with the least risk of detection."

"Prime! This planet sure is beautiful." Annoli exclaimed.

"Yeah. We'll have to keep it that way." I said as I lowered my pointing hand and patted Vayne on the shoulder again, "Alright now. We'll leave the ship to the droids and Sbaki. We have to prepare for our leave."

"Affirmative." Vayne said as he stood up from his chair.

I looked towards Pilot and told him, "The ship is your cold, metallic hands. Sbaki is officer on deck. Listen to what she tells you."

"Understood. As always." The droid said as he took his position at the main controls.

I walked with Annoli and Vayne as we headed to the hanger. As we walked I told them, "Don't worry about cramming into that compact, flying brick of a transport like last time. That one was just an unmarked ship. To stay low. This time we'll be traveling in style."

"Good." Annoli said.

The hanger doors opened. We entered and saw a ship taken off the rack. It was a transport/gun ship. The main body was sleek on top. Bulky and wide on the bottom. The ship had four wings. The two near the rear of the ship were curved into a downward bow. Like a bird's wings. Those wings were to help stabilize the ship when it entered into an area of gravity and wind resistance. The wings towards the front of the ship were a fourth the size as the rear wings and served no purpose other than decorative. They were slicked back to look like thin horns on the ship.

The ship's nose was slanted into a plow shape. In the center of the ship there was a single, heavy-mounted laser canon. The canon was high powered but slow. Mounted above the cannon was a dual laser turret with less power but snap fire reactions. There was also a second and third laser turret mounted in the left and right rear end of the ship. An entryway ramp was constructed between the two rear turrets. That way if soldiers had to rush into the ship the two turrets could provide cover fire. A nice little feature. The ship was painted in a plain, light gray color. The horned wings were painted black. Sbaki had named the ship the, "Snap-Axel".

Sbaki was slithering around the ship as she went through a checklist in her head to make sure it was prepared. Lwyn, Caily, Zade and Lou had already gathered by the time we arrived. Zade was also back in his Jedi robes. Annoli joined Zade while Vayne and I walked towards Sbaki. I asked her, "Is the Snap-Axel ready?"

"All I need to do isss refill the coolant on the main canon. Then itsss up and ready to play it's role." She told me, never taking her eyes from the ship.

I complemented her, "Nice work as all ways, Slither-Skins. Did you check to see if the codes for planetary shields are still up to date?"

"Yeah." She said as she finally made eye contact with me, "They are the ssssame old codesss. They don't even care enough to change them. Or too cocky."

"Well that's good. Right?" Vayne asked.

"Yeah. Makes our job easier. Not that hacking into the Sith's database and getting the new codes would have been hard. At least not for me." I bragged.

"Hmph. You're ship will be ready in a little bit." Sbaki said as she went back to her work.

"Alright. Keep up the good work." Not that I really needed to tell her that.

After a quick update from Sbaki, Vayne and I headed towards the others. Jaxter had joined the group with his belongs packed and ready to go. Lwyn nodded at me and held up a large black case. She handed it to me, "Forget something?"

I cringed, "Oh, yeah. Right."

She smiled, "You'd be so lost without me."

"I'd probably be dead without you." I corrected her.

I took the case from her and set in on the floor. I flipped the case's latches and threw the case open. On the insides of the case there were two pieces of black foam. On each side of the case were five indents in the foam. Eight lightsabers were fitted firmly into the indents. My main, and favorite lightsaber was already clipped to my side. My favorite lightsaber was a thing of beauty. At least in my opinion. The base of the saber was built of golden electrum. The decorative outline and hand grip was made of a black shiny metal. The blade o flight was an ultramarine blue. I grabbed three other sabers and clipped them to my belt. Zade smiled, "You weren't kidding. Did you really make all of those?"

I nodded, "Yup. No offense to the Jedi. I know you guys like to think of the lightsaber as a one-of-a-kind, honorable symbol."

Zade shrugged his shoulders, "No offense taken."

I closed the case and handed it to Vayne, "Here you go, partner. Why don't you do me a favor and put that in the transport?"

I shoved the case into his chest with a smile. He scowled at me, "Since when did I become your bag boy?"

"I'll let you drive the ship." I said enticingly.

He sighed, "Alright... fine. Darn you."

He took the black case and carried it into the transport ship. I looked at Lwyn and saw she had her lightsaber equipped to her side. She got creative with her saber. The base was black with a silver vine that wrapped around the base from top to bottom. The vine also acted as an added grip for her hand. Her blade was a light green color. Unlike I was, she was prepared.

We stood around checking our equipment, waiting for the others to arrive, and waiting for Sbaki to finish adding the coolant to the Snap-Axel. When we were ready we all packed into the Axel and said goodbye to Sbaki and the Zenith Black. Off to Mautmua.

---\__**V**__/---

Xelka laid down stomach first on the barren, Mautmua soil. Wearing a blanket over her body in the same color as the soil. Atop one of the Hedem Hills. The Hedem Hills was range of hills that was in between the Sith/Turr'shek lands and the Curakunda/human lands. As she laid down she clutched her model, "E-WYN 85 sniper riffle". With one eye closed, she pressed her open eye into the riffle's scope.

Through the scope she looked across the Hedem forest. Most of the trees in the forest were dried and leafless. Reduced to sticks and twigs. A few trees still tried to clutch on to their greenish-blue leaves but they were fighting a losing battle. At least without the leaves it was easier for her to see enemies approaching through her scope. Though it didn't matter at the moment. There was a heavy fog on the ground and a light, misty dew in the air. Visibility was horrible. She could barley make out the sticky treetops. Anything bellow that was impossible to see. That was exactly why the War Head was concerned. If the Turr'shek wanted to travel through the forest in secrecy, now would be the time.

She inhaled a cool breath of the misty dew and exhaled into a sigh. She spoke calmly to herself, "Nothing. Can't see a _rotting_ thing."

Just then two forms walked up the hill from behind her. One of the forms was regular in size. The other was a large, broad body. The first one was her associate, Rento. He clutched his two blaster pistols in his hands. The other was a Curakunda. The Curakunda were classified by a large, muscular, humanoid body. Their skin was a either light gray or a dull wheat color. Their heads were more animal-like. About 80% of their heads was covered in hair that were typically gray, gray and shades of brown, or gray and shades of blonde. Both males and females often had a long beard of hair that wrapped around the bottom of their skulls. Really, it was more like a mane that a beard. Their furry and droopy ears hanged from the sides of their heads. The top of their heads had a top tuft of hair that resembled a mohawk.

Besides their size, their faces was the most recognizable. They had yellow eyes with narrow slit pupils with long, hairy eyebrows. It wasn't uncommon for the outside ends of a Curakunda's eyebrows to fall down as far their chins. The noses were flat and wide. The mouths were wide and the top lip had a split that gave them a rounded, smiling face. If someone saw their heads alone, and not their looming and stalwart bodies, the Curakunda could be thought off as kind of cute looking. At least Xelka thought so.

The Curakunda usually only wore leather. Either hard leather for protection or softer leather for regular clothing and they usually didn't wear much at a single time. But because of the current state of the area, most of the animals the Curakudna hunted for the leather and meat to eat had permanently migrated to areas with less pollution.

This Curakunda in particular that joined them had dull wheat skin and gray hair. He tied the hair in the back of his mane into a tail. He was a young man around the same age as both Rento and Xelka. But they all looked kind of the same when it comes to age. Except for the children it's hard to tell if a Curakunda is 20 years old or 80 years old. His name was Regendie and he wore a hard leather vest and soft leather shorts. The Twi'twins were closest to Regendie than any other Curakunda.

Regendie was holding a Sadek staff. The most common weapon of the Curakunda. Traditionally, the staff was just a long spear with a spearhead for stabbing and a curved axe blade on one side for slashing. It had changed allot during the past one hundred years. The axe blade remained but the spear head was replaced by a blaster barrel for shooting. The blaster on the staff was inaccurate and not very powerful but it was an improvement over a spearhead.

They leaned down behind the hill to remain hidden. Rento asked her, "See anything?"

"No. Not unless you're asking me if I've seen sticks and dew." She whispered back at him.

"That's good." Regendie said in his low voice. Most Curakunda had low voices.

"No." She corrected him, "It's not that I haven't seen any enemies. I just don't have the visibility to do so. The forest could be completely empty or an entire army could be assembled there. I just can't tell."

"In that case, the War Head will want to send scouts into the forest." Regendie told her.

Rento nodded, "Well then I guess our job is done. Let's head back."

"Not yet." She told him, "I want to stay here. You two go on ahead of me."

"We're not leaving you out here alone." Rento scoffed.

She remained silent and kept the scope of her riffle searching over the forest tops. Hoping for a break in the fog. The fog never broke but something was telling her to keep put and be ready. Just then she tilted her riffle upwards into the sky. Off in the foggy distance she saw a dark mass blurred by a misty gray hue. She removed the scope from her eye to see if she could see it without the scope. It was too far away so she put the scope back to her eye. Rento noticed her behavior and asked, "Whats up?"

Before she could answer, Regendie's more sensitive ears perked up and he answered, "Weapon's fire. Off in the distance. Heading for us."

Xelka zoomed in on the object as closely as her scope would allow. It still appeared only as a gray mass. As she watched see saw a few streaks of red lights fly at the mass. She told the others, "Laser fire. It's under attack and I think it's headed this way."

"A friendly must be under attack." Rento deduced.

"It could be one of our hunting parties." Regendie guessed.

Since most of the prey the Curakunda hunted migrated they were forced to send long distance hunting parties to further away lands. They would use lower-tech planes powered by propeller engines. They were big, awkward, slow, and defenseless.

Sure enough, Regendie was right. A few seconds later she was able to make out the plane's long wingspan. One propeller engine on each wing. It had no weapons. It had no shields. Only dark green plating. Their attackers were ripping through it's hull effortlessly. Force be with them though. So far none of the blaster bolts had struck anything important like the engines or fuel lines. Only a little further and she could perhaps give it cover fire.

Xelka was getting impatient but kept her body flawlessly still. She waited calmly until she could see the attackers. Then they appeared through the fog. Through the side of her mouth, she told them the identity of the attackers, "Aeronauts. Maybe a dozen of them."

Aeronauts were a class of winged Turr'shek. The Turr'shek looked bug-like, though were not insectoids. But they had large, round, black, binocular type eyes that resembled that of an insect. Their skin was dark gray and slightly transparent. The skin was especially transparent around their faces.

Their skeletal bones were red in color. On many parts of their bodies their red bones could be seen through their skin. On their heads, parts of the bones even protruded from the skin. On the top of their skulls they had a flat crest where the bone protruded. And the bones around their mandibles also protruded. The Turr'shek mouth was sideways and full of sharp little teeth. They spoke in face paced chittering or clicking sounds.

They were tall, around two meters in height. Their bodies slender but powerful. They could jump high, run fast, and pack a punch. Their muscles were tightly wound. That caused their increased strength but as a side effect their bodies deteriorated quickly. Which is why a Turr'shek warrior is usually younger in age. The older ones are unable to fight. They wore the most simple of armoring. Just plates of metal on their chest, back, and legs.

None of the Turr'shek were born with wings. Nor did they possess advanced technology that gave them false wings. No. Aeronauts were a sin of science created by the Sith. With Turr'shek volunteers, the Sith operated on the Turr'shek and gave them foreign but organic wings.

These dozen or so Aeronauts were flying after the hunting plane with blasters. Trying to shoot them down. Xelka put the scope's reticule on the nearest flying Turr'shek. The sound of the plane's engine roared. To her it sounded like it was crying for help. She took her index finger and rested in gently on the trigger. When it got close enough she aimed for a mercy kill. Quick and painless. She had the shot and pulled the trigger. An orange line of laser shot from the riffle and hit its mark. The first Aeronaut fell. She pointed the riffle at the next Aeronaut. She waited for the two second cool down on the riffle to pass. A small green light in the lens of the scope flashed. Signaling that the next shot was ready. She locked on to the target and fired. The second one was down.

This time the other Aeronauts were able to see where the shots were coming from. So they swarmed over to the opposite side of the airplane and used it as cover. She took a deep breath and cursed softly, "_Rot_. They're hiding on the other end of the plane. I can't get a shot with them using the plane as cover."

She may not have been able to see what was happening anymore. But she saw the result. Smoke started to trail from the side where the Aeronauts were hiding. The plane was on fire. How large and serious of a fire she couldn't tell from her point. She couldn't see, she couldn't do anything. They were getting closer. Close enough that the twins could now hear the blaster shots in the distance. But at this rate the plane wouldn't make it past the mountains. Regendie cringed, "They won't make it."

Rento raised his pistols into the ready position, "Prepare for retrieve and rescue. Maybe they can crash land safe-"

His words were cut off by the sound of laser fire. The three of them looked up and saw green laser fire rain down from the sky above. The laser danced around the hunting plane but avoided hitting it. The target wasn't the plane. It was the Aeronauts. When the laser rained, one of the Aeronauts was caught in the mix and was obliterated. The rest took the hint and flew away. Continuing the pursuit was suicide with that laser fire in the sky. Rento pumped his fist victoriously as the plane flew safely over a hilltop to their left. They got a look at the fire on the rear side of the plane near the tail wing. The fire was fizzling away into a small flame. The plane was damaged but it should be able to make it back home.

Xelka tossed her camouflage blanket from her back and stood up. She gazed upwards and saw the Snap-Axel lower from the foggy skies. Rento pumped his fist into the air, "The Axel! Whoo-hoo!"

Regendie clapped his hand together and had a genuine smile on his face. Xelka sighed loudly as she took her hand and wringed the tight muscles in her neck, "Just in time."

She then lifted her sniper riffle and rested it against her shoulder. Keeping the still hot barrel away from her body. The Snap-Axel lowered near them and hovered near the side of the hill. The back of the ship opened and a ramp extended. A grizzly man with a long beard (Lou) stood at the ramp with his arm extended. He shouted over the Axel's engines, "Hop aboard!"

The three of them took turns leaping into the back of the Axel. When they were safely inside, the ramp closed and the Axel went forward. The Axel trailed behind the damaged hunting plane to make sure it arrived in one piece.

Inside the ship Xelka placed her riffle on the floor and sat down in the nearest seat. Sniping to kill was stressful. Yes, she was good at it. But it felt cheap. She took no joy in taking an unsuspecting life. Even if taking that life saved three others. But she accepted the burden. Thanks to Laan and the others her skills and intentions were aimed, no pun intended, in the right direction. No live and die to stop the Sith.

---\__**V**__/---

The Snap-Axel was parked just outside the central encampment of the Curakunda-Human coalition. Its was simply named the, "Camp". It was just a bunch of storage tents and mobile housing for the coalition. If needed, the camp could be abandoned or moved to a new location. But so far the Turr'shek have yet to pursue them to that point. Probably because there were a few Curakunda strongholds between their territory and the Camp that prevented that.

They chose this location because it was surrounded by grassy hills on all corners. Making it difficult to find unless flown directly over the Camp. There was also a nice flat patch on the other end of the hills that followed along a river path. It was long and flat enough for their planes to land and take off. That was where the damaged hunting plane landed safely.

We left our ship and walked into the camp. Thankfully, most of the fog had lifted so visibility was manageable. There was a thick dew on the ground. Since it was grassy in this area the dew made the air smell nice and calming. We were met by a Curakunda with gray skin and light-gray hair. There were many patches around his face and mane where scars had left his skin unable to grow hair. He had two sashes, one red and one blue that crossed across his chest over a hard leather chest plate. This was the War Head, Tockle.

Standing to his left was a Turr'shek. A friendly Turr'Shek. Not all of them supported the Sith. There was a small group of Turr'Shek sympathizers that joined the coalition. This was their leader, Biderek. To be honest, I couldn't tell the Turr'shek apart. I think allot of people couldn't. He fixed that and painted the red, protruding bones on his face blue. It was a symbolic stand against what the other Turr'shek were doing. He chose blue because blue was in direct contrast of his red boned brethren. His followers painted there bones white to symbolize their unity with the Curakunda and Humans. White, the same color bones of the Curakunda and Humans. They also dressed in the modified leatherings the Curakunda wore. So I had to remember, blue is Biderek the leader. White is his followers.

Regendie, the Curakunda that joined us on our ride over, walked ahead and greeted the two. He spoke in the Curakunda's language which consisted of allot of soft growls and words with very few vowels. The Turr'shek and Curakunda in camp could understand each others language but the Humans and Turr'shek struggled to learn each others languages.

As Regendie talked with them, we joined up with them. Regnedie pointed to the Twi'twins and said something about them. In response Biderek clicked and chittered a response. Whenever Biderek spoke, he would often sway in place and tilt his head around. He looked aggressive when he did that but that was just the way he spoke. Tockle translated for us in his raspy voice, "Regendie told us you escorted our plane. Thanks once again."

"No problem." Rento told him. As we spoke, Regendie was translating the conversation to Biderek.

"What was a hunting plane doing in Turr'shek territory?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I didn't order it." He told me.

"I hear this activity has increased." Zade mentioned, "How long has this been going on."

"A large Sith warship was seen a couple of days ago. Ever since then the Turr'shek have increased their activities. They've been attacking more of our villages and increased patrols." Tockle explained.

Lwyn looked back at the Twins and said, "The twins here mentioned that they've been abandoning bases?"

After Regendie finished translating what Lwyn had said, Biderek chittered his response. Regendie translated back to us, "At first we were confused but we just got a report from Biderek's spies. The reason why they were leaving and returning their bases was because they were gathering materials. They are constructing something on top of their bases. What they are building? We don't know."

"I'm guessing it's either a weapon or defensive array." I guessed.

"It's hard to tell what they are up to. Ever since that warship arrived things have changed. The Turr'shek have seemed sporadic as of late." Tockle added.

A sudden thought occurred to me. I looked over at Lwyn and Vayne and asked them, "Remember General De'Kyte?"

They both knew instantly what I was thinking. Vayne smiled, "Oh yeah. So perhaps that Sith warship was carrying a special guest."

Lwyn added, "Someone that started overseeing the operations across Mautmua. Maybe they even took over completely."

I turned back to Tockle and told him, "Just a theory but we know the Sith will sometimes send a General or someone else of rank to overlook their operations if the operation isn't producing g as much as they'd like. Perhaps this General decided to change their approach."

"Sounds plausible" Tockle said.

Biderek chitered something to which Regendie translated, "If that is the case, something worries me. If the Sith were unhappy with the way their operations were before. A more aggressive approach could lead to more battles. More invasions."

"That is true." Tockle said, "We will have to increase the scouts to make sure they don't try and surprise us. And we'll have to do something about those bases too."

"Perhaps we should discuss this in greater detail inside of my ship?" I suggested.

"Right." Tockle said. He then took a wide look around our crowd, "So, which of you is the leader of the Jedi and which is the leader of the Republic."

Zade raised his hand, "I will represent the Jedi."

Lou raised his hand too, "And I for the Republic."

"You two will be allowed into the war meeting. The rest must remain outside." Tockle told everyone, "And if I were you I'd keep to yourselves for now. There are many around this place that still view the Republic and Jedi as enemies. They won't harm you but I still wouldn't push it."

"We understand." Vayne told him.

Our group split up. Tockle, Biderek, Zade, Lou, Lwyn, and I headed to the Axel. Jaxter tried to talk his way into the meeting. But, no. He remained outside with everyone else. Regendie, HotShot, and the twins had to stay close with the others to show that we were all on the same side.

---\__**V**__/---

Jaxter and Annoli stood next to each other as a group of Curakunda stared at them with their arms folded over their chest. There was malicious intent in those eyes. Annoli gulped, "I've rustled with some big ones before but these guys don't seem the slow, clumsy type that I'm used to."

Jaxter nodded, "No kidding. I wonder who'd win in a fair fight. A Curakunda or a Wookie?"

Caily walked over to them and incidentally turned her head towards the Curakunda. When the Curakunda saw her mask they flinched slightly. Annoli smiled at Caily, "I think you're mask scared them."

"My mask does not cause fear in them." Caily responded cryptically, "Rather, they see this mask as my declaration as a fearless warrior. As fellow warriors they respect that declaration."

Jaxter and Annoli exchanged looks. Jaxter rolled his eyes, "Yeah... Okay. You crazy hag."

Caily smiled at them, "Completely off topic. Unrelated to anything in this conversation. I sense a weed nearby that could be grounded into a fine dust and discreetly mixed in with food. To younger bodies like yours, the powdered weed would be quite deadly... Again, completely unrelated."

Annoli and Jaxter's faces dropped. Jaxter stammered, "Th-That is a joke right? Because I cant' really tell with you."

She laughed and began walking towards the Curakunda that flinched at her mask, "Perhaps I will find more mature conversation from those Curakunda."

Annoli let out a sigh of relief, "Oh well. She's their problem now."

Jax turned to her and asked, "Yeah, but you don't think she would actually poison us? Do you?"

She innocently shrugged her shoulders, "Doesn't matter to me. My body had been trained to withstand small to medium strength poisons."

"Yeah but what about me?" Jax asked her.

She laughed to herself as she got up and left him alone. Wondering what Caily was actually capable of, Jax decided that just to be safe, he'd eat the food rations inside the Snap-Axel. Sure the food was tasteless but at least it was factory sealed.

---\__**V**__/---

Rollo was checking his backpack when HotShot approached him from behind, "Hey you!"

He stood up and faced her, "Are you addressing me?"

"Yeah." She said as she put her hands on her hips, "I wanted to talk to you about something.."

"Yes?"

"We're concerned about you. You're too timid. To be honest, I started a betting pool that you would be shot dead within our first three days here."

He scowled at her, "I don't think that's very amusing."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Neither did anybody else. That's why nobody else took my bets. But c'mon. We're all thinking it. You haven't shown us a damn thing to give us any confidence in you. All you have is a war story and a recommendation from the Chancellor."

He grit his teeth in frustration, "Just because I'm quiet and try to be as respectful as I can, you think I'm week? Pardon me, but you haven't seen a damn thing I'm capable of on the battlefield. You haven't seen how I execute an order. You haven't seen my dedication to complete the mission with zero causalities on our side. Why don't you reserve your complaints until you have something to complain about?"

With a smile on her face she put her hands up and backed off, "Alright, alright. Keep that up. Show some life in you. You're not with the Republic right now. You don't have to be all stuffy here."

He loosened up a bit and nodded strongly at her, "Right. But stuffy is just who I am."

"That's fine. I just wanted to gauge where your head's at." She told him.

"Well..." A self-amused smile crept across his face, "Thank you for caring enough to talk to me about this personally."

Her face went blank and she pointed sharply at him, "Whoa. Nobody said anything about caring. At least not about you. All I _care_ is that some inept little punk doesn't get me killed. Okay? That's _all_ I care about."

He stood up straight and raised a sarcastic eyebrow, "Of course."

She left it at that and huffed away. Vayne came walking over with a smile on his face. He reached over and smacked Rollo on the shoulder, "I don't know what you said to her, but congratulations. Ticking off Hotshot? That practically makes you an honorable member of the team in my books."

---\__**V**__/---

Inside the Snap-Axel everyone invited to the meeting, including a Turr'shek that actually understood Basic language and translated for Biderek, was huddled around a holo-image of the surrounding area while the lights were dimmed. We used the Snap-Axel as our war room because it had the only working holo-vid in the area.

Tockle looked around the meeting and told us, "Before we start I'd like to mention that I received a report from the pilot of the hunting plane you saved. He told me that while they were out hunting they were attacked by a Turr'shek scouting party. One of the hunters was kidnapped and the others hunters chased after them into the Turr'shek lands. That's when they were attacked and the plane was forced to flee."

"So they never got a chance to rescue the kidnapped hunter?" Lwny asked.

Tockle shook his head, "No... L-Lets just start the meeting now. Laan, the bases."

By his request and with a remote in my hand I zoomed the holo-vid into a closer image of the Sith bases that were reportedly abandoned and then reoccupied. Tockle pointed out three bases, "These are the ones."

The first thing I noticed about them was that they were far apart and not really near anything of value. They were only small strongholds and watchtowers. They were too few and far apart to be a defensive array. Since they were the bases nearest the Curakunda/Human lands I figured it was one thing, "They must be building weapons on top of the guard towers."

"Do you know what kind of weapon that would be?" Tockle asked me.

I shook my head, "It could be anything. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something experimental."

"The Sith have reduced us to target practice." Tockle said aggressively under his breath.

Zade looked towards Tockle, "War Head Tockle, I know there is allot of ill feeling towards the Jedi but if I may speak?"

He nodded, "Talk. I hold nothing against you, Jedi. I allowed Laan to bring you here. It wouldn't make much sense if I treated you uncivilly after I allowed you to come."

Zade nodded, "Thank you. I was just going to add that if those bases are a risk of armament, I think it best to begin assault right away. The longer we wait the greater the chance they are able to fully arm themselves."

I smiled at Zade's comment, "Quick and direct. I like it."

"As do I." Tockle said.

Lwyn asked Biderek, "Did your scouts happen to count how many hostiles were posted at each base?"

Biderek clicked and Tockle translated, "No guaranteed count. But it is estimated to be from 15-20 per base."

"Hey," Lou piped in, "I have a question. Is the enemy aware of our presence here? Do they know your side had outside reinforcements."

"I'm sure they do now after the Snap-Axel shot down a few of their Aeronauts." Lwyn told him.

"But are they aware that we have Force sensitives on our side?" Lou asked.

"I doubt it. We've done our best to avoid detection." Lwyn told him.

"Then if we attack those bases, the lightsabers should be left behind and the Force powers should be held back." Lou suggested.

"That's a good point." Zade agreed, "If we go in with sabers ablaze, the Sith would undoubtedly learn of our presence. Not only would we lose the element of surprise but the Sith may feel threatened into tightening their clutch on us."

I nodded in agreement, "In that case we won't be able to use everyone this time."

In half-embarrassment, Zade rubbed the back of his neck, "Well.... heh... I guess that leaves my team out of this one. I'm afraid Annoli and myself aren't capable enough with a blaster or other weaponry to contribute. And Caily is a Miraluka. It's implied that she is Force sensitive."

Biderek clicked to Tockle. Tockle nodded to him, "I agree." He then turned to the rest of us, "Biderek shall take his troop and attack one base. Regendie shall lead a team of Curakunda and assault another base."

I suggested, "Why doesn't Regendie take the Twi'twins with him? Xelka can provide the long distance cover that your Sadek staff's lack. And Rento is a deadly close encounter fighter. Plus, the twins have a good relationship with your troops so there shouldn't be any problem."

Tockle nodded, "Very well."

"The third team will be our game." I said as Lou and I exchanged glances, "I'll take Lou, Rollo, Vayne, and Hotshot."

Lwyn exchanged glances with Zade, "Jaxter and myself are in the same boat with you guys. We're not very adept without a lightsaber."

Tockle pointed towards the map and the three targets, "We'll hit these bases simultaneously. Fight off the enemy, occupy the base, and then blow these abominations off our planet!"

((Author's notes: Just a heads up about my next update. I think I'm getting sick... again. So I'm not sure when the next one will be. Thanks.))


	5. Chapter 5: Luck

Chapter 5: Luck

--- --- ---

My team knelt down in a brush of twiggy bushes. They were thick enough to provide cover, but were a pain to walk through. We all had our cuts and gashes from the twigs. As we knelt, I held a pair of Macrobinoculars up to my eyes. Through the scopes I was able to see our target in the near distance. A bunker made mainly of a concrete looking material was built into a hillside with a watchtower protruding from the west end. I lowered the Macrobinoculars and turned to my team, "I think we'll have to hit this thing from two phases. First the bunker and then up to the tower."

"There will be more hostiles in the bunker." Lou said as he swatted a flying, multi-legged insect from his knee.

"We should attach it as a team and then when we enter we should send three to the bunker and two to the tower." Rollo suggested.

"Sounds good to me." HotShot said, "The Republic can take the bunker and the Swyren can take the tower."

"Fine by me." Lou approved.

I nodded, "Alright. So we're set."

Vayne clutched his blaster pistol and nodded to me, "I've gotten pretty good with one of these? You?"

I grimaced and clutched a small blaster pistol with a tiny little barrel in my right hand, "Good enough."

"You just let me do all the work." HotShot instructed me with a wide grin.

I put the sleeve of my right arm up to my mouth and spoke into a concealed com-unit. I spoke to Regendie and Biderek, the leaders of the other assault teams, "Everyone is position?"

"Yes." Regendie said through his com-unit.

Bidrerek chittered twice, which we worked out to signal that he was in position. I responded, "Us too. Commence the attack in three... two... one."

As soon as I hit "one" my team and I stood up from the brush and charged through the brush. I must have gotten a half dozen cuts on my face from those damn twiggy brushes. It didn't last long though. Before long we had charged from the remains of the dying Hedem Forest and out into open land. We were on barren land now with a small hill to climb before we reached the base. The Turr'shek watchmen on the tower were quick to notice us to. Observant little buggers. Only seconds after we left the cover of the forest, we were fired upon from the top of the watchtower. What I wouldn't give for my lightsaber right now. But alas, I had to improvise.

Now that we were spooted and open targets, my attention turned towards the safety of my teammates. I took it as my job to make sure we all arrived at the base in one piece. So I focused the Force into the area around my team. Turning my attention toward the incoming blaster bolts. All the while making sure I didn't trip and fall as I ran up the hill. That would be an embarrassing way to die. Trip, fall, and shot to death.

For the first half of our trip up the we weren't greatly bothered by the blaster fire. The Turr'shek were too high up in their watchtower to be accurate with their shots. It was easy enough to dodge them. The second half of our trek was when things got dicey. The Turr'shek must have gotten a snipee riffle up top because I felt a sudden warning in the Force. I quickly planted my right foot into the soil and spun my left foot around and planted a firm kick in Lou's chest. With the forward momentum of his running, and my backward kick, he was sent falling to the ground on his back. Milliseconds later a stream of sniper fire flew past his head. The shot just barley missed him.

Lou didn't waste anytime getting back to his feet. He didn't think about how he nearly had a chunk of his face sniped off. He didn't think about me kicking him in the chest out of nowhere. He just got back up and began running again. I like Lou. He's got hustle.

The sniper wasn't our only problem. The door to the bunker swung open and a Turr'shek with a missile launcher strapped over his shoulders, knelt down on one knee behind the doorway. We all stopped in our tracks when we saw him. Frick. These guys were better armed then I thought. We weren't the only ones with this problem either. Over the com-unit we heard Regendie warn the other two teams, "Watch out! They got rockets!"

Rot! We were in his sights and he was ready to blow our flaming corpses back into the forest. Screw this and screw my own rules against using Force powers! I reached my free hand towards the area of the Turr'shek behind the doorway. The moment I sensed his finger twitch for the trigger, I levitated the bunker door and swung it close. It latched close just as the missile shot from his launcher.

Though we couldn't see it, the missile hit the door and exploded. We heard a muffled explosion from inside the bunker and the door that I closed was ripped from the bunker's wall and was sent flying over our heads and down the hill. Fire and smoke flashed from the hole where the door used to be. Then I sensed... something big coming. My eyes got wide and I shouted to the others, "Drop to the dirt!"

I followed my own advice and dropped to the ground, stomach first. Vayne must have sensed it too because he hit the ground without question. HotShot knew me well enough to trust that she should listen to me so she dropped. Lou and Rollo didn't understand us laying down in the middle of a fire fight so they kept standing. Not realizing what was going on.

Then it happened... A massive explosion, followed by multiple smaller ones, erupted from inside the bunker. The sound was enough to finally get Lou and Rollo to drop down. The first explosion caused cracks to form in the concrete walls that weakened the entire structure. The following explosions hit the walls and popped chunks of the concrete out of the structure and into the air. The smaller ones got some pretty good distance. The large chunks just fell from the base and began to slide down the hill. The small airborne pieces managed to miss us. But one large chunk started sliding to the left of our group. Vayne and Lou were in it's path. Vayne quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbed Lou by the cloth on his back and dragged him away from the spot before the chunk slid where they once laid.

As the explosions started getting smaller and smaller, the cracks started to run across the surface like cracks in breaking glass. The foundation of the base set in the hill was getting weaker and the bunker started getting torn in half, right down the middle. The west side of the bunker started crumbling. Including the watchtower.

With the main structure of the bunker around the watchtower crumbling, the tower was losing support and began to tip to the side. Suddenly, we were the least of the Turr'shek in the watchtower's problem. They were jsut trying to get out of there. They failed. We all watched from our laying position as it tipped more and more as the bunker crumbled around it. We were all waiting for it to fall. After a minute of waiting the tower gave way and tumbled.

It was like slow motion as I saw the tower suddenly lose all support and fall. When it hit the soil, the half of the tower that hit the ground crumbled and the other half fell into the rubble. Some of it tumbled down the hill but most of the tower had crumbled into enough traction for the tower to stay in place. At least for now. Eventually gravity would take over. The rest of the base stopped exploded and crumbling. In the end, most of it was rubble. Only a sixth of it still stood standing.

We stood up and HotShot looked over to me, "What happened to not using Force powers?"

"Well it was that our get blown up." I answered.

Vayne shrugged his shoulders, "Well that was easy."

I'm not sure what the Turr'shek were keeping in their bunker. But it must have been flammable and highly explosive. The missile going off inside the base caused a massive chain reaction and took out the bunker. The foundation must not have been very stable. I looked over my inadvertent handy work. I looked at Vayne as I pointed to the base and told him half-jokingly, "I don't care what the Jedi say about luck not existing... That right there was pure, dumb luck."

---\__**V**__/---

Two Turr'shek stood in a cabin on the top of the bunker's watchtower. The sound of blaster fire echoed from bellow them. The base was being attacked by unknown intruders. The watchtower had only one entrance. So if anyone planned to get up here, they were going to blast them into dust. They crouched down on one knee with their blasters gripped tightly. Aimed at the door. Ready to fire.

After waiting a few minutes, the door flew open and the Turr'shek opened fire. They unleashed volleys of laser fire in the open doorway. They stopped firing when they realized there was nothing on the other end. The doorway was empty. The Turr'shek didn't let their guard down though. They knew someone was hiding in waits.

But it didn't matter how aware they were. How prepared they were. They were outmatched in the end. Rento quickly leapt from the side of the door way. Exposing himself for only a brief second. In that second he took his two pistols in his hands and fired one shot from each pistol. One shot from each pistol was all he needed. The bolts hit the Turr'shek in the area between their chest and neck. Dropping them. With the last two Turr'shek taken care of in the bunker, Rento casually got to his feat and holstered his pistols. He walked into the room. He called behind him, "All clear."

Regendie came into the room behind Rento with his staff in hand. Rento noticed a black and purple cannon mounted to the floor in the middle of the room. The cannon had a long barrel that was poking out a large, open window. It was aimed at the Curakunda land. Rento pointed the canon out to Regendie, "I think we found what we've been building here. This thing looks long range, for sure. This could have been devastating to us."

Regendie sighed with relief, "Then its a good thing we stopped this construction." He then smiled genuinely, "But think of it. This canon is ours now. Three bases, three canons."

"Not to mention all those weapons and explosives they've been keeping in the bunker." Rento added, "It's all ours now."

"Today... was a good day." Regendie said with a firm nod of the head.

Rento nodded in agreement before he put his right hand up to his mouth. He pressed a button on a com unit on his sleeve. He spoke into it, "Laan? Do you hear me?"

"..._Yeah_." Laan responded over the com.

"Base secured. All done on our end." Rento reported.

"_Same here_." Laan responded.

Rento continued, "We've captured a canon and a large arsenal of Sith weaponry. Man, just imagine what we can do with all these spoils from all three bases."

There was a brief pause on Laan's end, "_.... Umm... Yeah. About that... Well lets just say that we won't be using anything from our base._"

"What do you mean?" Rento asked.

Laan paused, "_... N-Never mind that. Good job, Rento._"

"Thanks." Rento said as the com ended.

Rento then walked over to the open window. He took his right hand and waved it out the window. He was signaling to Xelka that the base was captured. She was outside waiting with her sniper riffle. Giving them cover fire from the outside when the others charged into the base. Rento pointed to the door, "C'mon. Lets go join the other Curakunda on the team and get out of here. I'm tired."

---\__**V**__/---

I ended my communication with Rento and rejoined my team. We were surveying the wreckage.... well the wreckage that I caused. Indirectly. How was I supposed to know the bunker was filled with explosives? Who does that? Who fills a bunker on the front lines with that much explosives? Who builds a bunker on such a feeble foundation?

I joined HotShot and she asked me, "So whats the news?"

"The twins took their base. In one piece." I said with a sigh as I kicked a rock of rubble.

Then we heard Rollo shout for us, "Hey! I found something!"

We joined him at the rubble of the watchtower that fell. He had grabbed a large slab of the tower and rolled it aside. Revealing a hunk of black and violet scrap metal. I could make out the remnants of a cannon barrel but the rest was complete scraps. I rubbed the back of my neck, "This must be the canon that Rento's team captured."

"Looks like a long range barrel." Lou said, "It's a good thing we stopped them from using it."

Vayne brushed his hands together, "A job well done!"

HotShot motioned towards the rubble around us, "You cal this well done?"

"Hey, it's damage done to the Sith." Vayne said, "So yeah. It's not perfect but I think we did good."

"Nobody died." Rollo added before adding softly, "At least... not on our team."

Just then a red light blinked on the com unit on my sleeve. It was a signal. Since I couldn't understand Biderek we came up with a signal. Yellow light means they failed and retreated. Blue light means they need reinforcements. Red light means success. I patted my sleeve, "Three bases down. This mission was a success. If only they were all this easy."

"Yeah." HotShot said with a laugh, "If only all the Sith bases would just self destruct."

I smiled at her comment, "If only."

---\__**V**__/---

Inside the Sith/Turr'shek lands, a large, dark tower loomed over hundreds of Sith factories and facilities that surrounded the tower. A hazy cloud of pollution hung in the air. The tower began at a wide, rounded base and curved forward as it reached for the sky. The top of the tower pointed off into three horn shaped spikes. Hanging from each spike was a red banner with the Sith emblem in the center. At the foot of the tower were two small towers that looked the same as the larger one. Only smaller and with a single horn on top and a single Sith banner.

This was the city, "Wreenot". Once the capitol of the Turr'shek government. It was now reduced to a city of manufacturing. The houses, businesses, monuments, all of it was torn down. Some of it was torn down by the Sith but most of the city had already been damaged by the corrupt Republic General years before. The Sith then rebuilt the city for their own purposes. Only the central tower, the "Ch'godo Tower" remained in tact. But the Sith occupied the tower and used it as a central base on Mautmua.

Inside the Ch'godo tower, a group of Sith officers were standing in a dimly lit control room. All eyes were trained on the video screens and computers around the room as the officers tried to sort out these incoming reports. The officers were in an argument over the situation and all shouting over each other. Then the entryway doors opened and outside light shone into the room. Every officer went silent as they saw a menacing silhouette standing in the light.

The silhouette was that of a male Omwati. He was a younger man with bluish skin and black eyes. His "_hair"_ had a glow in the light. Omwati didn't actually have hair in the traditional sense. Instead they had small, diaphanous feathers of an iridescent color. His was waved back behind his head. His face was covered in black, fanged tattoos. The black tattoos outlined around his eyes and were tipped into fang shapes on his cheeks. His lips were also tattooed black and fell down into fang shapes around his chin. He wore a black robe pinned to his body under black armoring. Hanging over his shoulder was a black strap that held a pouch where he kept his double-bladed lightsaber.

This was the new Sith head on Mautmua, 'Ordan Drust'. He lowered his head and swaggered over to them. He asked them in a strained but sly voice, "What shocking news has my subordinates all a flutter?"

One of the officers pointed to a wide-scale map, "We lost the out posted cannons. The new ones."

"I see." Ordan said as if it didn't matter.

One of the officers curled his hands into fists, "I don't understand this. We fight and struggle against these monsters for nothing. We fight when we could send in gunships and wipe the barbarians off the planet. It could be so easy. Heck, all we need is that war ship you arrived on." The officer then pointed accusingly at Ordan, "I thought you were sent here to change things."

Ordan closed his eyes and smiled at the accusing officer, "It _would_ be easy to take the planet over. Wouldn't it? But that's not what we want. We want this war to continue. Those bunkers were just a tidbit we gave the Curakunda. They weren't even constructed properly. We give them a taste of victory to keep their moral up so they're up to fighting spirit."

He continued, "The Turr'shek are fighting the Curakunda and Human colonists, true. But there is still a bond of kinship between the Turr'shek and Curakunda that can't ever be broken. They have different views but they both want what's best for their planet. You kill the Curakunda off and our free Turr'shek labor gets upset and turns on us."

"So then just enslave the Turr'shek! _Make_ them work for us." The officer argued.

Ordan rubbed his forehead and sighed at the officer's ignorance, "_Because_... slaves don't produce the same quality of product that the willing participants do. They believe they are making a difference for their planet."

"So we're just here to fight? Not to win? That's pointless!" The officer shouted.

"That's business. We don't win here. We only produce. We keep producing so long as the war continues." Ordan corrected with a stressed chuckle, "My predecessor wanted to win this war. So he was... _dismissed_ from his position. My job, is to make sure the war continues and our productions remain top quality for as long as the Turr'shek make themselves useful."

"I can't believe I'm a part of this futile war. It's insulting." The officer said through grit teeth.

Reading the body language of the other officers, it seemed they all agreed. Ordan smiled at them, "So you all feel the same? Well then, why don't I just save us some time?"

He walked over to the officer he argued with. He grabbed a blaster holstered at the officer's side. He then handed it to the officer, "Can we just skip to the mutiny part? Shoot me. Shoot me and end this."

The officer looked confused. Ordan grinned, "Don't understand? Let me explain. You kill me. Someone just like me takes my place. Probably someone that isn't as tolerable of your persistent back talk... I understand the importance of this planet's function to the Sith. And as a Sith, I'd die to keep it running. I'd die for the Sith. That's what we are meant to do. That's all we're good for as loyal little soldiers. To die for the progress of the Sith. It's a silly little system but I guess it works. So pull the trigger... or take an order. Whatever you do, do it now and spare me the wasted time."

The officer shook his head and holstered his blaster, "N-No, sir. I think I understand."

Ordan smiled, "Good. It's important to me that we all have the same belief here."

"Of course." The officer said with a bow of his head.

Ordan backed away and told them, "Now, it appears the Curakunda have the aid of outsiders. For now we'll let them make the moves. Let them reveal themselves to us. If nothing else, we'll allow them to keep thinking they have the upper hand in the war that doesn't exist."

"Yes, sir." The officers agreed.

Ordan smiled again, "One last thing. How's the project coming? _He_ wanted me to ask. He's so impatient. But I'm sure you know that already."

"O-Oh? That?" The officer nodded, "We had a system failure but we convinced the Turr'shek it was their fault so they've been working twice as hard to make up for their mistake. So we're ahead of schedule."

Ordan chuckled and gave the officers a pleased raise of his eyebrow, "Good work. I'm glad I didn't have to kill all of you." He looked at the officer that he had exchanged words with, "What? You didn't really think I was going to let you kill me? Did you?"

--- --- ---

Author's Note: Sorry this update took so long and was on the short side... And well... not as good as I would have liked. Sorry. I ended up getting more sick than I first thought and my brain couldn't think. And.... I'm still kind of sick so I'm still uncertain when the next update will be. But at least I had my new PlayStaion 3 to help pass the time. Speaking of which, If any reader has a PS3 account and would like to add me as a friend, my user tag is, "Casey_Jonez". Thanks.


	6. Chapter 6: Plan

Chapter 6: Plan

--- --- ---

It was the night after our first successful mission as a new alliance. Three lives were lost on our side. Two of Biderek's Turr'shek and a Curakunda solider. It was unfortunate, but acceptable loss. It could have been allot worse. That night they buried the bodies at the Camp. Everyone was off on their own for the moment. I think many were off with the War Head discussing possible plans for the future. I was on my way to join them when Zade took me aside to have a discussion. We decided to take a jog outside the encampment. As we walked he told me, "Thanks for coming with me"

"No problem. I assume you have something to discus with me?" I asked.

He nodded, "I do. When I heard we had taken a couple of canons and armory of weaponry from the Sith I grew concerned. Concerned about the future for the Curakunda and Human colonists here. Even if we win and rid planet of the Sith, where does that leave them? They'll have all these new tools of destruction in their hands. I'm worried we may just be arming them and causing a new evil on the planet."

"You think the Curakunda will become just like the Turr'shek are now?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I'm just concerned." He answered.

"It's a good point. But we don't know what they'll do. We can't really tell them what to do. For all we know, they may be even worse than the Turr'shek are now. We have no way on knowing what kind of beast they'll turn into. But we _do_ know what kind of beast the Sith are. I think its up to us to stop the Sith and let the Curakund and human colonists decide for themselves."

Zade thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement, "As do I."

We walked in silence for a few moments before I asked him, "There is something else bothering you. Isn't there?"

He abruptly stopped walking and looked at me, "It took me awhile but... I remember you. On Coruscant. Two years ago."

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. I peered at him cautiously, "Is that so?"

He looked at me with uncertainly, "You manipulated my powers. You... pierced the minds of the Sith and made them cower."

"And in doing so I helped us defend the Senate and saved lives on our side." I added with absolute certainty.

He shifted uncomfortably, "I know that. But I am painfully curious what your willing to do now, in this situation, to fight the Sith? And just how far into the darkness have you gone to in the past?"

"You really want to know? Now of all times?" I asked with little emotion.

"I need to know." He answered firmly.

"What if you don't like the answer? Are you going to leave? Will the Jedi abandon this planet a second time?"

He put his left index finger up to me and defensively pointed at me, "I _never_ said that."

"So? What will you do then?" I asked again.

He put his hands down to his side, "That's hard to say. If you're thinking I'll do anything harmful or get in your way, I won't. I will still work with you. But I won't be part of that type of activity again."

"Fair enough." I agreed.

"So? Are you going to answer _my_ question?"

"Fine." I began, "If you want to know about some of the things I've done in the past, well here we go. I chose to go into Hyarsythe to destroy it. I did so by killing, tricking, and manipulating the Sith. We turned them against themselves and then when we saw the opportunity, we struck them down. Them we sunk the base in the ocean. I don't like to think about it, but we drowned them alive. I'd like to think we outsmarted them and did what was needed to get the job done. And that was just Hyarsythe. I've traveled into many Sith pits and did some things I'm not proud of. But I don't regret it."

I continued, "I've learned the arts of the Sith just as I've learned arts of the Jedi. I didn't lose my mind in doing so. I didn't become a bloodthirsty monster. I've used all my knowledge to pave my own path to the Force. I don't limit myself to light or dark... Remember when you asked me why we call ourselves the Swyren?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"There was this creature on Apsus. Their name was lost in history and nobody cared enough to remember them even though they are an amazingly tenacious and resistant creature. I named them the Swyren, They could survive in the deepest depths of the oceans. But they could also survive on land. I've never heard of a living creature that could withstand such a drastic change in pressure. My theory is that they survive because they are touched by the Force. They were drawn to the Sithrimi as if they feed off it's dark power. Phyress Lokindr told me they were drawn to the dark side of the Force but I found out that wasn't exactly true. They gathered around me during my meditation. They responded to my relaxing waves. They weren't drawn to the dark side or the light side. They were just drawn to the Force. They didn't care what 'type' it was."

Zade smiled, "Sorry. I don't mean to sound so...."

"Uptight and continuously weary of me and my group?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Sure." He admitted, "I've just seen my fare share of Jedi think they can do it all too. But it never worked out. I'm overly cautious."

"So I've noticed."

"For what it's worth, if anybody can pull it off, I think you could. As I told you before I truly believe there is something special about you."

"Thanks. But I know what really bothers you." I said with a smile.

He played along, "And whats that?"

I joked, "You're jealous that my path in life allows me to have an attractive wife while you're stuck with a life of celibacy."

He laughed, "Well, I don't know how true that last statement is. After all its like you said before... I have bent rules in the past before."

I was taken aback, "Really?"

He nodded and began walking back to the Camp. As he walked he shouted back to me, "Anyways, that's all I needed to know. Thanks for the time."

I was still thinking about his 'bending of the rules' statement he just dropped on me. I shouted back to him, "You're just messing around with me, right?"

He didn't answer back. He just kept walking. I chuckled under my breath and began walking after him towards the encampment.

---\__**V**__/---

Lwyn was standing at a camp fire with Vayne, Annoli, and Jaxter. They were eating cooked bropaga meat. The bropaga were a large four legged animal. The meat was fresh from a returning hunting party. Vayne took a hunk of the red meat and ripped into it with his teeth. With a mouth full he said, "Yum. Juicy."

Annoli agreed as she took a bite, "Not bad. Kind of a unique, sugary taste for meat."

Lwyn explained, "That's because bropaga like to eat a special kind of grass with a high sugary quality."

"I wouldn't think that eating surgery grass would result in this much of a taste though." Vayne said.

"It's not from the meat. The Curakunda take the insides of the bropaga and boil it into a stew and marinade the meat in the stew." Lwyn explained.

Vayne and Annoli both stopped eating. With a drip of sauce on her chin, Annoli asked, "What part of the insides do they use?"

Lwyn smiled, "You don't want to know. But it's not unhealthy or anything."

Jax snickered at the two, "Looks like some people have gotten spoiled off Republic food."

"I'm not spoiled..." Annoli said before putting her meat down.

Vayne shrugged his shoulders as he looked at his food, "Meh. Food's food. Who cares what it's made of."

As they talked, Caily came walking over. As Lwyn was laughing at Annoli's reaction to the bropaga meat, Caily commented to Lwyn, "Interesting..."

Lwyn turned to Caily and asked, "What's interesting?"

"You." She explained, "As I've told you before, normally I find it hard to sense you. As if you're invisible."

Lwyn raised an awkward eyebrow, "O-Okay....?"

"But sometimes I've noticed there are times when you seem to subconsciously break concentration and I can see you more lucidly." She told her.

Lwyn seemed intrigued, "Is that so?"

"Yes. Like now when you were laughing and having fun with your little friends. Your cloud became thicker, more visible. I've noticed this also happens allot when you're around your mate."

Lwyn blushed and cleared her throat awkwardly, "W-Well.. yeah. We noticed this problem a little while ago that when my emotions became strong enough, my power to veil myself falters. I thought I had fixed that problem."

"I'm sure to most Force-sensitives you have fixed it." She then pointed to her mask where her empty eyes were hidden behind the mask, "But obviously, I'm different from most."

Jax laughed, "You can say that again."

Caily sniffed her nose. She then asked Jax, "I smell that you are enjoying your meal. Does everything taste pleasant?"

Jax raised an eyebrow and he stared at his food, "You didn't poison it did you?"

Caily ignored his questions and gave Lwyn a final warning, "Anyways, just thought I'd let you know. If I can sense your faltering powers, a Sith Lord could too."

"Yeah. Thanks." Lwyn said as Caily began to walk away from their campfire.

Jax slammed his questionable food to the floor, "Dang it! Must that hag ruin everything?"

As Caily was walking away, Laan came walking past her as he was headed to Lwyn's campfire. Laan nodded to Caily as he passed, "Greetings, Caily-Kyn."

She smiled back at him, "Hmm... I guess I can see what she sees in you."

Laan stopped walking and turned to her, "Huh?"

Caily ignored him and kept walking. Leaving Laan standing there, puzzled.

---\__**V**__/---

After a night of moderate, almost mild celebration of our victory, it was business as usual. Early in the morning, Lwyn, HotShot, Zade, Caily, Lou, Vayne and I joined Biderek and the War Head inside the Snap-Axel for another war meeting. The War Head, as well as a large number of Curakunda began to accept the Jedi and Republic a little more. Enough for the War Head to allow Caily and Vayne to join in on the meeting. That being said, there was still allot of distrust.

We stood, some sat due to the cramped area in the back of the ship, around a holo-map of the area. We talked as we waited for the last member to arrive to the meeting. The War Head told us, "Regendie is currently leading a team to scavenge the bunkers and retrieve whatever weapons we can find. As well as hauling the two intact canons back to the camp."

I nodded, "Yeah. I sent the twins with him to keep an added eye out on Regendie's team."

"As always, the help is appreciated." The War Head thanked us.

"Of course." Lwyn told him.

Zade asked the question I knew was on his mind, "What will you do with these newly found canons and armament?"

The War Head crossed his arms over his shoulders and thought for a second, "We'll give the weapons to the humans and Biderek's unit for them to use if they wish. The Curakunda are satisfied with using our traditional Sadek staffs. As for the canons we're going to set them up around the camp to use as defense measures."

I faced Zade while complimenting the War Head, "That's very sound resounding. Not irresponsible at all."

Zade nodded, "Indeed."

As Zade was saying this, we heard a rustle come from the entrance ramp. I looked over and saw the last guest arrive. A middle aged, colossal of a human woman weighing in at just over 120 kg. Much of it muscle. She had very dark skin and dark hair pulled back into nine braided tails. Her name, "Sanpak Bourgeois". The War Head was the leader of the entire Curakunda-Human organization but Sanpak was the leading representative of the Human colonists. Her brawny appearance was deceiving. She was also quite intelligent. She and most of the Human colonists had been away from the camp for a couple of weeks as they tended to Human village that had been raided by the Turr'shek. They counter attacked the Turr'shek outpost near the village and made them flee the area.

She walked over to our group and nodded greetings to us, "Hey. Sorry I'm late." She looked at the new faces around the ship, "So this the new blood? Republics and Jedi?"

Zade nodded and began to introduce himself, "Greetings. I'm Z-"

She interrupted him, "There will be times for introductions later. I'm here, so lets get started."

"Sanpak's not one for wasting time." HotShot told them.

"That's right." Sanpak said surely.

"Then let's begin." The War Head nodded to me, "Laan, I'm leaving this one to you."

I smiled and nodded at, "Yup. This mission is all my crazy concoction. It's also probably going to be the most dangerous one we've had yet. It;s times like these why I wanted to go off planet and get some added help."

"Well you've hooked my interest." Sanpak told me as she leaned closer to the map with interest.

I took the controller of the map and zoomed it to the location of the three bunkers we defeated. With a yellow light on the map, I highlighted the hills and small mountains around the bunkers and explained, "Okay, so these three bases are no longer a threat to us. So nothing is preventing us from advancing further into the Turr'shek lands. As you notice, past the bases there is a large section of hills and tiny mountains. The obvious advantage is it'll be easier to travel through the mountains undetected. Albeit a little more slow going."

"And what are we traveling to?" Lou asked.

"I was just getting to that." I said as I advanced the image on the map past the mountains. The map came to the other end of the mountains where the ground became flat and barren. I highlighted three clusters of buildings. Two of the clusters were only a half a mile apart while the third was over three miles north of the other two. I explained, "Just like last time, we have three targets."

Sanpak pointed to the southern most target. A building that was built into the side of a small mountain. She said, "I know that place. It's a weapons plant isn't it?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Isn't that an odd place to put a weapons plant? So close to enemy territory?" Vayne asked.

I hit a button that highlighted the mountain it was attached to, "It is. But there is a vein of metallic stone under the mountain that the Turr'shek melt down and use in the outer casing of their weapons. They mine it from the mountain and send it directly to the factory. so its both a factory and a mine."

Lwyn pointed to the closer target north of the mine, "And this is a warehouse they use to store their weapons until the Sith come and ship them out."

Biderek chattered something. The War Head translated, "Scouts have noted that the warehouse is full and shipment should occur any day now."

"We could do allot of damage if we destroy the warehouse and everything inside of it. Which won't be easy. They have turrets lined around the warehouse" I pointed out.

HotShot smiled at me, "Then you should do it. You're quite good and blowing things up."

She was of course referring to the bunker I inadvertently blew off the hillside. I ignored her and went on with my briefing. I pointed to the north most and distant target, "And this one. A command post where many Turr'shek soldiers, and reportedly a Sith, is stationed. There is also a large anti-air turret mounted on top of the post. Maybe in case we ever decided to use the hunting planes for other, offensive purposes. And I'd bet the Sith have a few toys hidden there as well."

"That one won't be easy either." Zade said with concern.

"No, it wont." I added with a sigh, "Anyways, We'll need to hit all three at the same time so they're all caught off guard and the command post will be unable to send reinforcements to the other two areas."

"So whats the plan?" Sanpak asked me.

I pointed to the northern command post, "Zade, Annoli, Caily, and I will attack the command post. I feel a little _Force_ might be the best attack method. We don't want to completely destroy this post. Just occupy it so we can use it for our own. That way we'll have a foothold in this area. Plus a useful little AA turret."

Zade nodded, "Agreed. If we want to execute a successful simultaneous attack, we'll need our fastest to hit the larger target."

"Except for me." Lwyn said, "I have another task."

I nodded and pointed to the mine, "Most of this attack will be underground. Lwyn will lead Lou, Rollo, HotShot, and Rento into the mine. Set timers and blow it up from the inside."

"Same tactic as always?" Vayne asked with a smile. Referring to Hyarsythe.

Lwyn smiled back and shrugged her shoulders, "Eh. Why mess with what works?"

I then pointed to the warehouse, "As for this thing. The goal is simple; I want to pound it into the ground. Since its far enough away from the AA turret on the command post, we can use the Snap-Axel to shoot it into rubble. Xelka will take out the turrets from a distance which will allow Vayne to take the Snap-Axel to the warehouse. I don't want Jax in the big fights yet. Since he is still new with a lightsaber. Vayne, take him with you to operate the Axel's turrets. And keep a safe distance from the warehouse because there may be a big, big boom when you shoot it."

Vayne brushed imaginary dirt form his shoulder, "Pssh! Ain't no struggles for me."

Sanpak turned to me, "What about us? The Humans, the Curakunda, Biderek's unit?"

I told her bluntly, "We won't be needing your help this time."

She took offense to that, "I don't like it. This is our war. On our soil. But if the War Head agrees, I guess I'll go along with it."

The War Head nodded, "It was agreed that the Swyren would be allowed to operate on their own if I allowed it. And I'm allowing this."

The truth is, this wasn't just there war. This wasn't them vs the Turr'shek. It was the Sith. This was the galaxy's war.

---\__**V**__/---

Ordan Durst stood before a large holo-map of the area. He looked at the three bases the Curakunda-Human coalition defeated. As he looked over their work, he was fascinated. He got a strong feeling about the help the Curakunda had. No doubt they had help. But who?

Ordan's lead officer, the one he promoted after they exchanged words and ended with Ordan putting the officer's blaster to his own head, walked over to Ordan. The officer pointed to the area past the three fallen bunkers, "As you can see, Lord Durst, there are three likely targets they could attack next."

"Don't call me that." Ordan scolded.

"R-Right. Sorry, Ordan." The Officer corrected himself.

Orden then told his officer, "I've already viewed these three locations and I agree. But its not just a possibility. I'd bet every credit I could find on it. The Curakunda won't pass up the chance to strike."

The officer shifted in place. Ordan faced and ask him, "Something wrong?"

The officer shook his head, "N-No."

Ordan sighed, "If you have a question, ask it. I won't bite."

"Okay." The officer agreed, "If we are just fighting this war... for the sake of fighting this war, I'm curious on which three of these points we should defend and which, if any, we should let the Curakunda take to feel as though they are making progress."

"See? Was that so hard?" Ordan asked.

"No. Not at all."

Ordan then pointed to the map, "It's a valid question. The three locations in question are a weapons plant and mine, a command post, and a warehouse."

"And I'm guess we want to at least defend the mine?" The officer thought out loud.

Ordan nodded, "Yes. The weapons plant is replaceable but the mine is not."

"And the warehouse currently has a full payload of shipments from the weapons plant that need to be shipped out." The officer pointed out.

"So we defend that." Ordan told him.

"And the command post?"

"There are currently over two hundred Turr'shek based there in the barracks." Ordan stated.

"And Green in posted there as well."

Ordan scowled, "Yes, _Green_. As much as I dread the thought, would you please patch through communication with the wormy parasite?"

"Of course." The officer said as he walked over to a computer terminal.

He hit a few buttons and the holo-map vanished. After a minute the image of a heavily muscular human male with a block head showed up as a holo-image. His head was shaved bald except for a green patch on the top in the shape of a broadsword. He was a complete ignorant, moron that called himself, "Green". Ordan hated this imbecile. Green sneered at the holo-cam, "What do you want?"

Ordan closed his eyes and rubbed the temples of his head with his right hand, trying to stay calm, "Is that any way to speak to a superior?"

"Ha! By no means of the word are you in any way superior to me!" Green shouted.

Ordan sighed, "If you say so, my little dimwit."

"What did you call me?!" Green shouted again.

Ordan raised an eyebrow and ignored Green's last statement, "I like what you've done with your hair there. Very fashionable. I'm sure all those Turr'shek over there are very envious of the moss growing on your scalp."

"You foul, color-skinned alien! Next time I see your face I'll peel it off with my lightsaber!"

Ordan wasn't impressed. Flatly he told Green, "Uh-huh. I'm terrified."

Green took a deep breath and relaxed, "Is there a point to this conversation?"

Ordan slightly titled his head to the side and thought a moment before he answered, "On second thought... no. No reason at all."

Green growled and cut transmission. His holo-imaged fizzled away into static. The officer asked Ordan, "You're not going to warn Green about the enemy?"

Ordan nonchalantly dusted some dirt from robes, "No. If I'm lucky, they'll kill him for me. Rid me of the filthy weed."

The officer had an amused smile on his face, "So we leave the command post to fend for themselves?"

"Yes." Ordan turned around and began walking towards the exit, "I'll be heading to the weapons plant. I'll witness for myself who the Curakunda enlisted. Probably someone with an equal or greater disliking of us. I'm quite curious to see who the Sith have pissed off this time."


	7. Chapter 7: Assault part I

Chapter 7: Assault part I

--- --- ---

Our teams were set in their positions. Me and my team were laying stomach first in a dry river bed for cover. We were successful thus far in approaching the command post undetected. Right now I'd guess we were two hundred and some yards away from the command post. I poked my head up from the dry river to peek at it.

The main section of the post was an octagonal shaped, four floored, heavily armored structure made mostly of black, protective plating. The three lower floors were fully closed off while the top, fourth floor had an open balcony where a few Turr'shek snipers were posted. None of them were facing our direction at the moment so we were hopefully safe for now. On top of the fourth floor was the large AA turret. Currently inactive it would appear.

Attached to the east wing of the main base was a smaller, rectangular building that I guessed was the barracks. It was only one floor and had less protective plating. I noticed a large opening on the main structure that looked like a garage door or some other type of sliding, overhead door. I figured the open door led to a garage or some type of hanger. That would be our best option to enter from.

Zade had also popped his head up as he scouted the area. He looked at a few Turr'shek walking around the campus with blasters in their hands. Guards. One such guard started walked towards the dry river we were hiding in. He was getting way to close for comfort. Zade stretched his hand over the top of the side of the river trench and pointed his fingers towards the Turr'shek. Under his breath I heard him chant, "The river is clear of intruders."

The Turr'shek paused momentarily before turning around and walking back to the post without incident. I complimented Zade, "Nice."

"No problem." He responded, "I can sense much youth and inexperience in some of these Turr'shek. Easy to trick."

"Don't count on it being that easy once we get to the post though." I cautioned

"Of course not."

Caily kept her head lowered since she didn't need her eyes to see. But she did notice something that she brought to our attention in her own, cryptic words, "The soil is disrupted by a mechanical intruder."

"What?" I asked her.

Annoli pointed over the river's edge to the barren soil, "I think she means those."

Zade and I followed Annoli's pointing finger to a small black antenna sticking up from the ground about twenty yards away from us. And it wasn't the only one. There were rows of them sticking up from the ground. I recognized what they were. They were sensors. They'll sense us within a four meter range. I brought my right hand up to my mouth and spoke into a communicator on my right sleeve. I warned Lwyn's team, "Sensors spotted. Watch for them."

"Got it. From what I can see, we're clean on our end." Lwyn said through the communicator.

"Good." I said as I lowered my hand from my mouth.

Annoli asked me, "Whats the plan?"

"Forget the sensors." I told them, "The snipers will spot us long before the sensors do. I say we just run in. The snipers won't be able to keep up with our speed and the guards will be easy enough to get past. We charge in and try not to get shot."

Annoli gripped her lightsaber handle, "I'm game for that."

"Sounds exciting." Caily added.

Zade sighed, "Lets just get this over with."

"Alright. And keep an eye out for this reported Sith." I added my final instruction. After that, I spoke into my communicator to Lwyn and Vayne's team, "Alright you two. You guys ready?"

"Yes." Lwyn responded.

"Yup." Vayne said from the cockpit of the Axel, "The three of us back together. Just like old times right? I'm just glad I got the easy job."

"Heh." I chuckled as I made one last peek at the command post. When I thought the time was right, I ordered both teams, "Alright. The operation commences in.... 3... 2.... now!"

The moment I gave the order, I ended the communication and the four from my team leapt from the dried river. The sounds of our lightsabers igniting at the same time made my blood pump and the adrenaline rush. We rushed forward, full speed towards the command post. The guards and snipers were quick to notice us. But they weren't much of a threat. The snipers fired at us. But they couldn't hit a speedy target and their shots landed meters behind us. The guards unleashed shots of laser fire at us but their shots were either easy avoidable or easily deflected with our sabers. And we were fast enough to make up those two hundred years in a quick pace. Annoli was clearly the fastest of the four and raced footsteps ahead of us.

The whole base was now aware of our presence. That was slightly troublesome as the garage door, our entrance, began to slide closed. It became a race to see if we could reach the door before it closed. A Turr'shek guard even stood at the doorway to guard against our racing entry.

At least I thought it was going to be a race. Annoli took control of the situation and raced even further ahead of us. She reached the garage door while we were still twenty some yards away from the base. The guard fired at her but she dodged the laser fire while switching off her two lightsabers. She reached the guard, who was standing under the closing door, and she slid, feet first between the guard's legs. As she slid past him she Force pushed his feet out from under him and sent him falling hard and face first into the ground. He was knocked out cold. The door was now only a meter away from closing on us but Annoli, already in a laying position from her slide, reached upwards towards the door. On her back she Force pushed upwards against the sliding door which caused the door to shake loose from it's tracks and jam in place. Just in time for the three of us to reach the door and slide underneath, into the commander post.

As I passed Annoli, still laying on the ground, I gave her a pleased smile as I grabbed her by the foot with my free hand and yanked her into the post and out from underneath the door. The moment she was cleared from underneath the door, I grabbed onto the door through the Force and yanked it down to close us off from the outside and keep the guards from coming in.

Inside this garage there were a few unarmed Turr'shek that fled from the room the moment they saw us. We let them flee. I took a quick look around the garage and saw some of those Sith toys I was hoping we'd find. Speeder bikes with blaster cannons mounted on the bottom. They were sleek, gray bikes with long rigged steering vanes on the front and two small stabilizing wings on the sides. And they looked brand spankin new. Never used. As much as I wanted to check these things out further, now was far from the time. Later... but not now.

We pressed on further into the base. From the garage there were two paths to take. One path had a bunch of armed Turr'shek on the other end. So I closed that door and locked it tight and we took the other one. Turns out the other path led to a stairwell. Stairs that went both up and down. We were on the first floor. So the bottom stairs must have led to some sort of basement. Caily volunteered to take the basement route and check it out. I figured that was a good idea for her to go since it could be dark down there and would not effect her as it would the three of us. So she split from us as we headed up.

---\__**V**__/---

Caily knelt down behind a stack of metal crates with her saber turned off to keep herself hidden. The basement of the post was one large storage area. The room was littered with these metal crates and as she could sense it, seven Turr'shek. They were quickly rummaging through the crates looking for weapons to stop the invaders. They found a special crate full of long, repeating blaster riffles.

Caily decided now was as good a time as any to attack. She gripped her saber in her left hand and with her right hand she reached behind her towards the back of her utility belt. She kept venom tipped throwing knives sheathed in her belt. She gripped three on the knife handles in between the three gaps in between her fingers and pulled them from their protective sheathes.

With her weapons in hand, she ran from behind her stack of crates and ran behind another stack, closer to the group of Turr'shek. Now only a single stack of crates sat between her and the Turr'shek. Taking her left hand she aimed it at the stack of boxes and levitated one of the bottom boxes. Causing the stack top topple over. Two Turr'shek were caught in the falling pile and were momentary trapped underneath.

They were now aware of her presence and those that had weapons began to aim their weapons at the stack she was hiding behind and began firing their blasters. In response, Caily dashed from behind the stack and took note of the Turr'shek armed with weapons. There were four of them armed, not including the two trapped under the fallen crates, and one without any weapons. She took her right hand and threw the three knives at the armed guards. With a little added aiming, courtesy of the Force, the three knives struck three of the armed Turr'shek. The knives hit non-lethal areas on their bodies but the quick acting venom was enough to paralyze their entire bodies. Leaving their bodies inactive. Lucky for the Turr'shek the venom only paralyzed them. It was lethal for many species.

For the last armed Turr'shek, Caily dispatched him easily by switching her green lightsaber on and throwing in like a javelin into it's chest. Leaving three unarmed Turr'shek. She calmly walked over to the slain Turr'shek and pulled her saber from it's body. All the while the standing, unarmed Turr'shek watched her with great caution as it debated what to do. It made the wrong decision by trying to reach for one of the paralyzed Turr'shek's riffles. Before it even reached the riffle, Caily levitated a metal crate from a nearby stack and crashed it harshly against the reaching Turr'shek's skull. Knocking it out cold. She hit it so hard with the crate that after the crate struck the Turr'shek, the box kept traveling until it hit the wall next to the Turr'shek, bounced back and hit the Turr'shek a second time in the back as it was still falling to the floor. Caily snickered amusingly at her work.

This left the last two Turr'shek that had now scrambled from underneath the fallen pile of boxes. These two were unarmed and didn't struggle against her and ended up surrendering to her. She smiled a satisfied smile at them, "That was a very, very wise decision."

---\__**V**__/---

Zade, Annoli, and I ended up on the third floor of the post. Leaving a mess of enemies in our wake. We reached a short hallway with blast doors on the opposite end. On the left were doors to many smaller room. On the right side was a stairway that led up to the fourth floor balcony where the snipers were posted. I ordered Annoli to go up top and take out any Turr'shek still on the balcony. Zade and I then proceeded down the hallway.

As we approached the blast doors we both felt a shudder in the Force. Zade spoke for both of us, "I sense a Sith beyond this point."

I snickered and looked over to Zade, "This building is far to small for our clashing styles. Do you want them? Or should I take care of this?"

He cracked his neck before answering, "I can handle this. I'll show you what this Jedi is capable of."

"Can't wait." I told him.

Zade walked over to the blast doors and I walked over to control panel in the wall. I took the butt of my lightsaber and jammed it into the panel's protective casing. Causing it to bend away from the wall. Then with a quick yank I pulled the casing off and exposed the internal program and wires. With the tip of my saber I snipped two wires. Then I took two opposing wire tips and jammed them together which caused a power surge and made the program believe there was a power outage and switch into emergency mode. Which.... in simpler terms meant the doors slid open and stayed open.

The room beyond the door was obviously the command room. We could tell by the abundance of computer terminals and screens. That, and the giant Sith standing in the center with his lightsaber drawn. He was obviously here to guard it. He stood before us a blockly looking chap with a green patch on his head in the shape of a sword.

When I saw him I commented loudly," Whoa! Look at the loser with the green hair cut!" The Sith's eyes connected with mine and his look became an enraged glare. I shrugged my shoulders, "What? Do you want me to lie and tell you that haircut was a good life decision? Because I obviously cannot do that with any honesty."

Zade stared at the Sith and held his dual sabers out in front of him. While looking at the Sith, Zade asked me, "Do you always taunt the enemy?"

"Usually. Especially when they look like this guy." I told Zade with a quick chuckle.

He grinned, "Well if you attack his hair you don't leave me with much to work with. Other then that dopey look on his face."

"Sorry."

"Shut up!" The green-haired freak shouted at us, "Don't you realize you're going to die today?!"

Zade walked deeper into the room while I stayed outside and watched him work. As he entered, Zade asked the Sith, "So what's the name of the '_man who is going to kill me today_'?"

The Sith glared at Zade, "You will call me, 'Green'."

Zade and I both laughed at the mention of his name. Zade chuckled while still keeping his sabers out in front of him, "Aren't you the creative one?"

"Alright, alright." I told Zade, "Lets just get this over with."

"I suppose you're right." Zade admitted. He then looked to Green, "I just have to ask you, would you consider leaving this base in peace?"

Green didn't respond with words. Instead he just took his saber and charged forward. As he ran he swung his saber forward. Zade didn't hesitate to meet his charging attack with an "X" shaped cross of his sabers to block the attack. But Green was strong and the attack was enough to make Zade's arms tremble from the impact. So Zade quickly took a leap back and away from Green but Green followed up with a swipe aimed at Zade's chest. But he missed as Zade side stepped his strike.

Zade quickly scrambled behind a group of computer terminals to screen himself from Green. Green ran around the terminals to chase after him, but Zade hoped over the terminals and gingerly jogged away from him. Zade was playing mind games with Green. Trying to get the meathead riled up. And it was working. Green angry swiped his blade through one of the terminals in an empty attempt to intimidate Zade, "Come on, Jedi! Face me!"

I frowned as I looked at the now destroyed terminal. We wanted to use this base for ourselves but it wouldn't be worth as much if all the valuable instruments are inoperable. Zade didn't respond to Green's call. He just bounded in place with his sabers hanging at his sides. Green growled and leapt over the terminals to the other side so he could face Zade. But that was exactly what Zade wanted. When Green was still midair, Zade quickly threw his left lightsaber. When Green landed, so did Zade's lightsaber. Landed directly in Green's right leg. The tip of Zade's saber pierced through his leg and into one of the terminals behind him. Pinning his leg. Green yelped in pain. The distraction was all he needed. Zade quickly followed up with a dash and slash with his second lightsaber and sliced Green's lightsaber in two pieces.

Green snarled and Zade plucked his saber from Zade's leg. With Green unarmed, Zade backed away cautiously. As Green was tipping all of his weight on his good leg, Zade asked him, "Now will you surrender?"

He shut his mouth tight and suddenly decided to go quite. I walked into the room and over to Green. I raised an eyebrow at him, "Well that didn't last very long."

He was still silent. Though I could tell he definitely wanted to say something. Zade looked at Green with an aura of neutrality, "C'mon fella. This is your chance to distance yourself from the Sith. I mean look at you. Your guarding a single command post on a factory planet. They obviously don't think much of you."

"Don't play me like an idiot." Green shouted at Zade, "I'm not as weak as you think I-"

Before he finished his sentence I quickly and deeply swiped my lightsaber across his chest. The moment I cut him down, a spark of Force lightning harmlessly fizzled from his hands. His body fell to the ground with a thud. I turned to Zade and told him, "You can never consider the Sith unarmed until they are dead. You never know what tricks they have."

Zade gave me a sideways glare as his switched his sabers off, "You know, I could have deflected that. You didn't have to kill him."

"I know you could have." I switched my blade off and pointed around the room, "But there's no guarantee that none of that deflected lightning wouldn't have fried every computer in the room. We need these computers. My way, there wasn't any risk. And we both know he was hell-bent on either killing us or die trying."

Zade raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Fair enough."

I clipped my saber to my side and quickly scrambled over to the nearest terminal. I did my hacker thing and entered into the post's database. As quickly as I could I scrambled over their files. As I did, Annoli came running into the room. She had cleared the top balcony of the enemies. Annoli walked over and asked me, "There are still many Turr'shek left on the base. Shouldn't we take care of that?"

"I am." I said, "Unfortunately, the Sith didn't trust Green enough to guard any valuable information so I have nothing of value to take away from this post. But this thing does have a few local perks."

I accessed the command post's system and activated some select areas of the base. On the screen I found a security cam of one section. That section had Turr'shek in them so I locked that room down so nothing could get in or out. Then I found another section. That section had a Turr'shek in it so I locked that one down. I did this over and over. At one point I saw Caily in the basement, binding two Turr'shek captives so they couldn't move. And then I found the barracks where most of the Turr'shek were and locked that one down.

Over time I had most of the post on lock down. Annoli patted me on the shoulder, "Nice job."

"We can have Biderek come and try and reason with them." I told them, "Hopefully they'll surrender peacefully."

"Good thinking." Zade complimented.

Annoli sighed and gripped her lightsaber, "I'll let you two play with your gadgets. I'm going to double check and make sure the post is really secure."

"Well aren't you the good little padawan?" I said as she walked away.

Zade followed after Annoli, "I'll join you, Annoli. I can't have you doing all the work. It makes me look bad."

"What are you talking about? I _already_ did all the work." She complained.

"Pssh!" Zade scoffed, "I slayed a Sith."

I stood up from my chair and left the room. I headed up to the fourth floor balcony. With this base secure I was curious how the other two teams were doing. I leaned forward against the railing and gazed to the south where the other two teams were. I could see a large billow of smoke in the distance. I hope that was a good billow of smoke. One that our side had caused. I couldn't contact them with the communicators. If any of them were sneaking around, the noise could alert the enemy of their whereabouts. I'd just have to trust in them to get the job done. But I couldn't shake this feeling that there was an unforeseen obstacle ahead of us.

---\__**V**__/---

Xelka crouched behind dried bushes on a hillside. A hillside near the targeted warehouse. In front of her were two tripods with rocket launchers mounted on them. It was a heck of a time carrying them up the hills all the while remaining undetected from the Turr'shek patrols. She didn't care what anybody said, she had the hardest job out of all of them.

She looked through the scopes of her launchers. She counted four defensive turrets mounted to the ground. All four set around the rectangular warehouse. Taking out four turrets with two launchers was manageable but she'd have to work quickly. She took her time to aim the launchers at the first two turrets. She kept looking into one scope while adjusting the launcher to the perfect centimeter. Then she did the same to the other launcher. She kept fidgeted with them until she heard Vayne contact her through her communicator, "Hey, Xelka. Are you ready?"

"Absolutely." She responded.

A minute later she got the order she was waiting for from Laan, "Alright. The operation commences in.... 3... 2.... now!"

The moment the order came in, she wrapped her fingers around both of the launcher triggers and fired. Rockets flew from the launchers and screeched through the air. They were aimed perfectly, well they were seekers so the aim didn't have to be perfect, but they hit the turrets and exploded in a burst of fire and metal in a splash explosion. Always satisfying.

Xelka quickly reached to a pack on her back for more ammo rounds. She reloaded the launchers and took aim again. The other two turrets were now aware of her and the smoke trail that came from her firing of the previous rockets, pointed out her exact location to them. As she was reloading, the base of the turrets were turning to fire at her. It was going to be a race to see who fired first.

She got them loaded just before they were able to aim at her but she couldn't spare any time to aim by eyesight. She used the training she got from Laan and used the Force to guide her aim. She quickly fired the rockets off and they hit their marks. Boom. Two more splash explosions. A brief moment before they were in position to shoot at her, they were destroyed. Close call.

Xelka let out a sigh of relief and flopped down onto the ground. Her job was done. A minuet later the Snap-Axel flew overhead. It was headed directly towards the warehouse. Form her perch, Xelka sat back and watched the fireworks.

---\__**V**__/---

Vayne sat at the controls of the Axel while Jax sat in a chair behind him. Jax was manning the controls of the ship's main turret positioned in the front of the ship. Vayne got a big smile on his face when he saw the scraps of scorched metal that used to be the warehouses' defensive turrets. That made his job easier. On the ground there were a few Turr'shek workers running into the warehouse. Possibly to retrieve weapons to use against them. Vayne shook his head, "Running the wrong way, guys."

Vayne couldn't waste time. This was a warehouse full of who knows what kinds of weaponry. He wasn't about to let one of them grab a rocket launcher and shoot them down. He nodded to Jax and told him, "Fire. Bring it to rubble."

"Bring it to rubble." Jax repeated with a smile on his face.

As the Axel hovered near the warehouse, Vayne and Jax opened fire and unleashed a rain of laser fire down onto the warehouse. The first volley of shots melted away at the flimsy ceiling and by the time the second volley of shots came, there was nothing to block their fire from striking inside of the warehouse and anything inside. Including the packaged weaponry.

The laser fire screeched from the barrel's of the Axel's cannons and slammed into the warehouse hard. After only a few seconds they could begin to see an orange glow of a roaring fire form inside the building. Followed shortly by dark smoke.

Vayne smiled slightly as he saw many Turr'shek flee from the burning building, unarmed. He'd rather not have them inside when they were doing this. Just so long as they weren't armed and ready to fire on them, he didn't mind them escaping.

After a minute of pumping constant fire onto the warehouse, the insides started to pop with small explosions. Probably because the fire had reached ammo canisters. Vayne let up on the weapons fire and pulled the Axel away. He ordered Jax to stop shooting and they sat back and watched the warehouse burn.

After a few minutes, the metal sides of the building began to warp and bend as they melted. The fire had grown so intense that even metal was melting rapidly. The smoke had billowed up into an intense cloud of dark smoke. As the smoke reached the sky, it even blocked out the sun. Vayne winced and told Jax, "M-Maybe we should go pick up Xelka. Before the entire hillside catches on fire."

Jax folded his arm over his chest and nodded, "An easy days work."

Vayne nodded as he pulled the ship back, "Yeah. For us. Lets just hope it was this easy for the other two teams."


	8. Chapter 8: Assault part II

Chapter 8: Assault part II

--- --- --

Lwyn pressed her back firmly against the outside wall of the weapon factory. She had snuck past the Turr'shek patrols and approached the factory from a blindside on it's west wing. The patrols were easy to avoid. There were only two of them. Not including a heavily armed guard post that blocked the only entrance into the factory. The guard unit was armed with a heavy laser cannon. Anything in range of that canon would be pulverized. That was the first target they'd have to take care of.

The others in her team were posted on a hillside to the west. Keeping cover in the brush. For the first phase, they'd be playing distraction. Lwyn waited until Laan got in connect with her. When he gave the order, "Alright. The operation commences in.... 3... 2.... now!" She signaled her team by ignited her lightsaber.

The moment the other team saw her signal, laser fire began to fire from the hillside. Aimed at the two Turr'shek patrols and the guard unit. In the background a loud explosion could be heard in the distance from Xelka shooting the warehouse turrets. The Turr'shek immediately fired back, aimlessly, into the brush. As this fire fight was going on, Lwyn scrambled over to the corner of the factory. She took a small mirror from her belt and poked it out from behind the corner. Looking into the mirror's reflection she saw the heavy cannon pointed towards the hillside. There was one Turr'shek operating it and four Turr'shek kneeling down behind half-walls for cover as they shot into at the hillside. All of their attention was focused on the hillside.

Lwyn switched her saber off so it didn't draw attention to her. Then she charged from behind the wall. With fleet, quiet, and graceful feet she sprinted up to the unsuspecting Turr'shek. Before they realized she was there, she leapt forward and switched her saber on. With a quick twirl of her light green blade she cut down the two nearest Turr'shek. With another leap she thrust the tip of her blade into the operator of the heavy cannon. The other two didn't last much longer before Lwyn reached them. With her speed and agility the five Turr'shek were taken down in only a couple of seconds.

As she heard a second set of explosions come from the warehouse, Lwyn looked back and saw that with the heavy cannon down, Rollo, Lou, Rento, and HotShot emerged from the brush to engage what was left of the patrols head on. Rollo and Lou both had normal blaster riffles. Lou carried a protective pack on his back with the explosives tucked in the pouch. Rento was equipped with his usual dual-wielding pistols. And then HotShot with a heavy repeating blaster riffle that required a strap over her shoulder to hold it. They had taken care of most of the patrols from the brush and made quick work of what remained.

As the others jogged over to the entrance, Lwyn walked over to the entry doors. To her slight surprise, they were open. In her experience doors always seemed to be locked. That's just how it always happened. This was a nice change of pace.

She waited for the others to catch up to her before she entered. When they did arrive, they stood ready. HotShot stood at the doorway with her heavy repeating blaster aimed and ready to fire. Lwyn stood near her with her saber, ready to block any incoming fire. Rollo approached the doors and quickly threw them open. Expecting the possibility that there was an army of armed Turr'shek on the other end of the doors, everyone prepared to fire. But there were no visible enemies so they cautiously entered the factory.

The inside was dark. The only lighting came from a dark red light that provided the lighting for the entire factory. The factory ran rather deep into the mountain side. It looked like the factory was about 200 yards by 80 yards in size. All one big hanger-styled room rowed with large industrial machines and conveyer belts.

They expected at least a few armed Turr'shek inside but there were none. Just a few Turr'shek workers that immediately threw their hands up in surrender when they saw Lwyn's party. At first Lwyn thought it was strange to have a heavy cannon outside but no secondary guards inside. Perhaps they were over confident that the heavy cannon would suffice? But she quick realized that the workers weren't the only Turr'shek here after all. Her eyes were drawn towards the ceiling and she saw armed Turr'shek hiding atop the rafters on the ceiling. Lwyn quickly barked out, "Ceiling, ceiling, ceiling!"

The Turr'shek opened fire on them at the same time the workers that had supposedly surrendered reached over to the conveyer belts and grabbed blasters fresh off the factory lines and fired at them. Lwyn took cover behind one machine with HotShot and Rento. Rollo and Lou hid behind another machine. Rento kept his arms exposed from cover and shot constantly into the rafters while HotShot kept her finger on the trigger of her rapid fire blaster. Lwyn kept herself hidden behind the cover while her teammates concatenated on the enemies at hand.

Rento and HotShot's constant fire and Lou's slow but well aimed blaster fire was more than the Turr'shek could handle. They were dropping from the ceiling. Meanwhile, Rollo worked on picking off the the armed workers on the ground. He was able to take down two of them before the rest took cover of their own behind the machines. Lwyn poked her head up from behind the machine and took note of where each armed worker took cover.

As her teammates were fighting the other Turr'shek, Lwyn ran form behind the cover of the machine and in a still-crouching position, she found an open alley between two conveyer belts and made her way to the machines the Turr'shek were hiding behind. Ducking under one conveyer belt, she quickly dashed behind the machines that the Turr'shek were behind. They saw her and fired at her. One bolt came her way which she deflected into the ground and followed up with a slash into one Turr'shek. Two more shots from two more Turr'shek came her way and she was able to duck away from both of them. Then she followed with a quick-double slash and took them both out. Thus taking down all the Turr'shek workers on the ground. Lwyn quickly ran underneath a conveyer belt for cover as she let the others take care of the Turr'shek in the rafters.

HotShot and Rento took control of the blaster-team and quickly knocked down the Turr'shek numbers. However, whenever it appeared they had taken down all the Turr'shek in the rafters, another one would pop up and fire at them. After many minutes the enemy fire stopped and no Turr'shek could be seen in the rafters. They waited a few more minuets to see if any hidden foes still remained. But time passed and they felt the coast was clear. All emerged from their cover and Lwyn walked back to the others, still keeping an eye out for any other enemies. Lou frowned as he met her, "They knew we were coming."

"It's not that surprising." Lwyn told him, "This attack was kind of obvious due to it's positioning. There may be more in the mines so we needed to be extra cautious."

"I hope the other teams weren't ambushed like we were." Rento said.

HotShot took a look out the open entry doors and saw a huge billow of smoke from where the warehouse was... or used to be, "Well it doesn't look like Frog-face had any problems."

"C'mon." Lou told them, "We can't waste time if they know we're here."

"Right." Lwyn agreed.

They quickly made their way to the back of the factory where there was a large, solid door. Rollo ran over to the control panel and opened the large doors. They slid open and the team found no enemies. It was just a square room with another heavy door on the other end.

Instantly when those doors opened the smell of a near-sulfur like element filled their nostrils. Lwyn quickly switched her lightsaber off and looked at the others. Lou nodded as if he knew what she was going to say, "The air is putrid with gasses."

Rento pointed one of his pistols into the gas filled room and warned the others, "Stand back."

Everyone took a few steps back as Rento fired a single shot into the room. The moment the bolt hit the gas filled air, the two elements mixed and a large, quick puff of fire engulfed the air. Lwyn sighed, "Combustible."

Lou took off his pack with the explosives and set it on the ground, "Good thing we prepared for this possibility."

Lou reached into the pack and pulled out a half-mask. A black mask for the lower part of the face and a respirator attacked to the mouth. He tossed it to Lwyn. She caught it and quickly slid it onto her face. Lou then picked the bag up and carried it over to her. This was a plan B for them. Biderek informed them that some mines could be gaseous so they took a gas mask with them. Only one because if this was the case, they planned that Lwyn would go on alone into the mine. Because blasters and lightsabers would ignite the gas, they would have to rely on Lwyn's stealth. But just in case she got into trouble, Lwyn had also packed a sheathed dagger in the pack. She removed the dagger and strapped it to her side. Lou handed the pack to her and she put it on her back. She was ready to open the doors on the other end of this room which led to the mines.

HotShot smiled at her, "Ready to have all the fun?"

Lwyn responded through the respirator, "I love a good explosion."

"Just don't cause a spark, yeah? Or else you may** be** the explosion." Rento warned her.

"You don't have to worry about me." Lwyn responded.

"Good luck... or may the Force be with you." Rollo quickly corrected himself.

She nodded at him, "I'll take luck or Force. Or both."

---\__**V**__/---

Lwyn found sneaking around in the mine shaft was easier than she thought. So far there wasn't anyone inside. The main problem she had was navigating through the mines because every tunnel looked alike. The rock inside the mine were made of orangeish-red rocks with streaks of rusty jade veins inside some of the broken rocks. Every three meters a light hanged from the ceiling to light the way.

She didn't have to go all the way into the mine. Just enough to plant the explosives and bury the main entry tunnels under rubble. So every tunnel she came across she took out a small hand held explosive. She peeled back an adhesive strip and plopped it against the walls. She then set the timers to go off in a couple of hours. Giving her plenty of time to escape these confusing tunnels... hopefully. Planting multiple explosives in case anyone came around and found them, they wouldn't have time to take them all down. She did this over and over until she ran out of explosives. When she was satisfied that the job was complete, she headed out through the way she memorized.

--\__**V**__/---

As the group waited outside the mine for Lwyn to complete the mission, HotShot stood with Rento as he was checking his pistols. During the earlier battle, one of them was hit by an enemy shot and was completely busted. He sighed and tossed the useless pistol away. HotShot pointed out to him, "You're just lucky that pistol was the only thing busted. You could have lost some fingers with that shot."

Rento just shrugged his shoulders, "Meh. It happens. I can always get cybernetic implants. As for my pistol. I have another back at camp."

Rollo walked over, changing the ammo charges in his blaster as he approached them, "You have to be careful with those implants. I knew a guy back in the academy that got addicted to cybernetics. He kept sacrificing his body to get stronger implants. The academy kicked him out because he was unstable. Both mentally and because of the abundance of implants, physically too. Before he left the academy he busted into a few dorms and stole whatever he could just to pay for more implants."

"Relax." Rento told him, "We're just talking about a finger or two. And I'm fine so it's not even an issue."

Rollo shrugged his shoulders, "I'm just saying."

Lou walked over to them after making his rounds around the site, "This place is pretty complex. I don't know a single thing about any of these machines."

"Well don't get used to them." HotShot told him, "Pretty soon these things will be under piles of rock and debris. Hopefully."

"Surly you're not doubting Lwyn?" Rento asked.

"No. Of course not."

None of the four noticed a figure enter into the factory from the entryway door. But the figure approached them in the shadows. Almost causally. Rento was first to notice the figure and pointed his lone pistol into the shadows. He shouted, "Hey! Come out from there."

The others all turned and aimed their blasters. Ordan Drust slinked out from the shadows. His eyes turned away from the party. Instead he looked around at the fallen Turr'shek. With an impressed nod of his head he spoke to them, "Not bad. I guess I arrived a little too late."

HotShot noticed the dual bladed lightsaber handle hanging from his back and knew to take extra caution. But she didn't want to make him think they were frightened or intimidated by him. So with a cocky smile she asked him, "So you knew we were coming here? I assume this little trap was your idea then."

"Yes..." He said with a sliver of disappointment in himself, "And clearly I failed."

Rento kept his eyes closely on Ordan. Ready to fire if he made a move. Rento asked him, "Who are you?"

"Does it really matter who I am?" Ordan asked rhetorically, "But... I'll make a deal. I'll tell you who I am if you tell me who you are."

"Pssh!" HotShot snorted, "It's like you said. It doesn't matter. I assume you're here to kill us so that means we're here to kill you. Lets leave it at that."

Ordan had a look of forced surprise on his face. He pointed to himself and repeated her words, "_I am here to kill you_? Hmm.... That's not quite true. I may _have_ to kill you but I don't come here seeking it."

"I find that very hard to believe!" Rollo barked at him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Its really up to you. You could surrender. If you do I'll accept peacefully."

This was... odd, HotShot thought. She had never met a Sith that offered peaceful surrender. Unless this was a trick. Which is highly likely. But if he didn't mean it, he could have killed them already. Unless he just liked to toy with his prey. Which was also likely. Lou spoke for them, "Sorry, Sith. But surrender isn't an option."

"Well... the truth is I'd appreciate more information from you. So please, lets not get ahead of ourselves." He told them.

Good. Hotshot realized that this Sith had something to say. The more they could stall, the more time Lwyn had to complete her job. That was priority one. HotShot knew that a Sith like this could not be underestimated and he could very well be more than they could handle on their own. Even if he had yet to draw his lightsaber handle from it's hilt. So HotShot decided to stall as much as she could, "Alright, Sith. What do you want?"

"Good, good." Ordan said before getting to his point, "I know you don't want to tell me who you are... but I really must know. I know the Curakunda have outside help... and clearly there must be more to it then just you four. No offense, of course. But I feel there is much more to it than you four. I'm already aware you have a ship. One that can destroy a warehouse in a matter of seconds. What other tricks do you have?"

Lou tightened his fingers around the trigger of his blaster. He wondered if this Sith was playing with them. He hadn't drawn his weapon yet. Could he take this Sith down before he got the chance to draw? As Lou thought to himself, HotShot answered the Sith with a question of her own, "So you figured out that much did you?"

Ordan titled his head to the side as he began to analyze, "Hmm.... Are you stalling for time?"

HotShot paused for a moment, "Wh-what do you mean?"

The wheels in Ordan's head began to turn, "And I wonder why the four of you are just waiting here. Perhaps others have already entered into the mines?"

That was it, Lou thought. He was onto them and it was only a matter before he drew his weapon. So he took the opportunity while he had the chance and pulled the trigger. The laser shot from the barrel at Ordan. But Ordan easily and effortlessly dodged the shot with a near dance-like step to the side. HotShot groaned at Lou's hasty actions. But things couldn't be changed. The first shot was fired and the fight was on. They all opened fire at him. Ordan frowned at them and leapt back into the shadows to hide himself. HotShot cursed, "Damn! We let him get the upper hand."

Lou cursed under his breath as he stopped firing. He knew he screwed up. They had lost him in the shadows. It didn't matter where they shot. The Sith would be able to detect it and dodge it. And now the four of them were cornered while the Sith was undoubtedly watching them from the shadows. HotShot and Renot went back to back to keep an eye out for him while Rollo and Lou kept their eyes moving around the factory. Seeing if they could pick him out of the darkness.

HotShot squinted into the many dark voids cast by the machinery. He could have slithered anywhere into the factory. He could be hiding anywhere. Then Hotshot saw it off in the shadows. Two ruby blades of light appeared in the darkness. Accompanied by the familiar sound of a lightsaber switching on. The glowing blades were all she could see in the shadows. She barked to the others, "There! Fire."

They all turned and began firing at the area of the of the two lightsaber blades. The constant laser fire they were shooting was enough to light up the shadows around the lightsaber. When the area was illuminated, they didn't see the Sith. They only saw his dual bladed saber resting on a still conveyer belt. Before they realized it was a trap, Ordan leapt from his hiding spot in the rafters and landed directly in the middle of the group.

It was like slow motion as Ordan landed and reached his hands out and planted his palms in HotShot and Rollo's backs. Before they could react, a powerful Force blast hit them and sent them flying forward. HotShot flew into a conveyer belt so hard that the structure of the belt clipped her knees and sent her spinning head over heels in the air until she eventually landed on the floor. Her heavy repeating blaster flew meters away from her body. Rollo on the other hand flew head, neck, and right shoulder first into a the side of a heavy machine that may as well have been an iron wall.

Rento quickly dodged away from Ordan and twirled his pistol towards the Sith. Ordan dodged Rento's first shot easily but the following shots became harder and harder to dodge. One even sizzled the tip of his hair. Ordan sensed that Rento was in touch with the Force and was more than just a man with a gun. Meanwhile, Ordan temporally had his back to Lou and Lou saw another opportunity to take Ordan down. He quickly aimed his blaster at Ordan's back. But Ordan quickly took a peek over his shoulder and saw Lou aiming at this back. In response, Ordan quickly spun around and pointed his hand towards Lou's blaster. The moment Lou pulled the trigger, Ordan gave it a nudge with the Force and pointed the blaster away from him and knocked it to aim at Rento. The shot was fired and struck Rento in the chest. He groaned in pain as he was knocked back to the ground.

Lou's eyes grew wide when he saw he shot Rento by mistake. Not realizing it was Ordan that altered his shot. Ordan locked eyes with the stunned Lou and told him, "You... are too much of a liability."

Lou quickly gathered himself and once again pointed his blaster at Ordan to shoot. Ordan shook his head with displeasure and responded with a two handed Force push that hit Lou hard in the chest and sent him flying backwards into the wall. Lou hit the wall ten feet in the air and dropped back down onto his feet with his back leaning against the wall. Ordan quickly turned back to where his lightsaber rested on the conveyer belt and summoned it back into his hands. As soon as he had his saber in his grip, in one motion, he turned towards Lou and threw his saber tip first. The thrown saber found it's mark in Lou's chest. Lou winched in pain as he stood pinned to the wall. Rollo looked up from the floor. He was laying there in incapacitating pain. When he saw Lou in that state he shouted, "Lou!"

Lou looked over to Rollo and mouthed in silence, _I'm sorry_. A moment later his eyes closed and his body began to fall limp. The moment his body began to fall limp, Ordan summoned his blade from Lou's chest and back into his hands. Ordan twirled his saber in front of him as he turned to face the direction of HotShot and Rento. He saw HotShot had forced her way back onto her feet even though her legs were greatly injured from her throw. She had picked up her heavy blaster and propped herself against the same conveyer belt that injured her. HotShot fired a heavy stream of fire at him. But Ordan took advantage of her weakened base and side stepped her fire. Because of her weakened base she couldn't pivot to aim fast enough. Ordan reached out and took possession of the body of her blaster. He violently pushed it from her grip and slammed the butt of the blaster under her chin. Both her and her blaster were sent falling back to the ground.

Ordna took a quick glimpse of the area. Lou; slain. Rento; wounded. Both HotShot and Rollo; laying on the ground with injuries. They were taken care of. Ordan took his saber and turned towards the mine. To his surprise, he saw the mine door was suddenly open. He raised an intrigued eyebrow and spoke to himself, "That... wasn't open before."

If it wasn't for his sharp non-Force senses, and ability to sense the air behind him shift, Lwyn would have landed a killing blow on Ordan. She hide herself from his Force senses to sneak behind him. She had drawn her lightsaber without turning on the humming blade and aimed the point of her handle into his back. But he had realized she was there at the last second and was able to side step her attack as she switched the blade of her saber on. But not without penalty. He may have avoided the deathblow, but Lwyn's blade still pierced his right side and slashed a good mark in his side.

He grabbed his side and quickly stumbled away from her. Lwyn glared at him as he backed away. She just watched as he stumbled into the shadows. Her priorities were not killing him. Her priorities were her team. The explosive charges were set and she couldn't waste time with him when she was going to have to help her friends, those that had survived, to safety. Battling him may waste precious time. So she let the wounded Ordan escape the factory with his life. Ordan quickly and painfully rushed towards the door. He exited the factory. But not without turning back to Lwyn and grinning. He now had a better understanding of who the Curakunda had enlisted... Very impressive.

--- --- ---

((Authors Note: As much as I don't want to. I'm going to have to take a small break from writing for awhile. I've been very busy lately and I'm just burnt out. So I'm going to take some time, maybe a month give or take, and let my brain recharge. Sorry. Oh and also, I want to correct an error on my part. At one point in chapters past, I spelled Ordan's last name "Durst" when Its supposed to be "Drust" Just thought I'd clear that up.))


	9. Chapter 9: Loss in Victory

Chapter 9: Loss in Victory

--- --- ---

It was a somber day. We had taken out our targets but lost the Republic Captain, Lou Ailoko in doing so. Slain by an unknown Sith. As for Rento, he was injured but he would fine given some rest. Loss was to be expected coming to Mautmua but its still never easy. Lou was a solid guy. I respected him. From the report I got from Lwyn and her team, Lou's last minutes weren't his most glorious moments. But his last moments didn't take away from his years of honorable service.

The Curakunda took his body back to the camp were they burred his body in patch of lush green grass surrounded by a clear river. One of the few remaining areas of untainted nature around these parts. It was the same spot they buried their own fallen soldiers. Which was highly symbolic of our new alliance. In an odd way, his death helped bring the Curakunda and the Republic together. I'm sure it was a fitting burial for him. Though I unfortunately could not attend.

I could not attend because we had taken this area and it's command post. And while there wasn't much information to obtain from the command post, it was still a valuable foothold in our charge against the Sith and Turr'shek and I had to make sure that they didn't return in trying to recapture the base.

Biderek and a few of his Turr'shek, as well as Sanpak and a few humans, joined our group in the command post. Meanwhile, Rollo, Vayne, HotShot, and Jax were sent back to the Camp. Rollo and Vayne went to attend Lou's burial while I sent HotShot and Jax to help the Curakunda. The Curakunda had carried the captured canons back to their base and now they needed help setting them up around the camp. HotShot had learned a few mechanical tricks from Sbaki over the years and I've taught Jax quite a few things as well. So other than me going there myself, those two were the best options to assist in the installation.

When Biderek arrived, he and his units helped capture the detained Turr'shek around the command post. The same Turr'shek that I had seized and locked inside the base when we first took the base. I think Biderek took the captives back to a small, secondary encampment belonging to another tribe of allied Curakunda.

It was night at the command post. I spent most of the day trying to find any piece of reliable information from the base's database. Nothing. This time they they covered their tracks well. I finally just gave up on searching the Sith's database and decided to end my work for the day. I left the command post's command room and met with Zade and Caily in the outside hallway. I asked them if they'd seen Lwyn. Zade shook his head, "No. I'm afraid I haven't seen her."

Caily sneered, "Some husband, losing his wife. Not very impressive." She then pointed towards the stairs leading to the roof, "She's been up there for a couple of hours."

"Thanks... I guess." I said before dismissing myself and headed up the stairs.

When I got to the roof the first thing I noticed the the massive AA canon mounted on the roof. The massively useless AA canon. As it turns out, it's a useless shell. Lacking any interior components that made the damn thing work. It looked like it used to have the components. Not anymore though. I'm guessing they built it to use against the Curakunda's planes. But when the Curakunda never developed their planes into war machines, the Sith stripped it of it's most valuable components. All it could do was move around on its base. But it could not fire. At very least, it worked as a large bluffing tool for the Sith.

Which sucks for us. I was counting on stealing that AA canon to use against the Sith and Turr'shek if they tried a counter attack against this base. Without that AA canon our job was that much harder. At very least the Sith now knew we had the Snap-Axel. Maybe that would be enough of a threat to keep them off our backs for awhile. But I couldn't risk that. We'd have to advance into the Turr'shek land sooner than I originally planned.

Anyways, I walked around the base of the canon and found Lwyn sitting on the edge of the roof with her legs hanging over the ledge. I walked over to her. Then with a pat on her head, I sat down next to her with my legs hanging too. She smiled at me, "Hey."

"Still thinking about Lou?" I asked as I smiled back at her.

She sighed and looked forward, towards the direction of the Hedem hills, "Yeah. I keep thinking about what would have happened if I stuck with the rest of the team. I never should have split off."

"Don't-" I began.

She quickly interrupted me, "Don't say something like, _don't blame yourself_. Because you don't know. For as long as you have been leader of the Swyren, you haven't lost anybody under you're direct command."

I nodded admittingly, "True... But I did have a vision that cost hundreds of Jedi and friends their lives."

She rolled her eyes and smiled, "You can only use that excuse so much."

I laughed, "Fine. So I've overplayed that card. Still... I do understand. If you think about it, it's good you blame yourself. It means you still have a hold on your humanity."

She remained silent for awhile as we just sat under the planet's lone, pale, and rather brightly lit moon. Eventually she turned to me and told me, "We'll just have to make sure we don't lose another ally."

"I wish that was realistic." I told her somberly.

She sighed again, "Yeah. I know its not realistic. But it's not impossible."

"True."

We then heard Annoli's voice call out, "Laan! Lwyn!"

The two of us stood up as Annoli came running around the base of the canon. She saw us and pointed downstairs, "Hey! Get back to the control room. The Sith are contacting us."

We wasted no more time on the roof. We followed Annoli down the stairs and back into the command room. We we arrived the room was darkened and a holo-image of a male Omwati hovered in the air. Lwyn nudged me in the shoulder, "That's the one. From the weapon's plant."

His holo-image locked eyes with me. Zade, Caily, Sanpak, and Xelka were also in the room. But he made it a point to single me out. So I raised my hands welcoming to him, "Well, hello there."

He smiled and bowed his head to me, "Thank you for hearing me. Are you the one in charge here?"

"No. That would be the War Head. I'm just a good talker. So if you have anything you want to discuss, I can hear it."

He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at me, "Is that all? You're just some middleman for the War Head? I don't really believe the War Head would have agreed to foreign help if he wasn't completely sure they'd make a difference. Not a middleman." He then looked at Lwyn, "I know for a fact that_ one _of you is a more capable fighter than any solider in the Curakunda/Human alliance."

Sanpak snorted, "That's an uppercut to the ego."

Lwyn pointed to Ordan's right side, "How's that little wound I gave you?"

He continued on, ignoring Lwyn's jab, "I need to know who you are."

I shook my head, "Well... I can't tell you that."

"So I keep hearing."

Zade stepped forward, "Pardon me, Sith... But it's quite rude to ask for someone's identity before you introduce yourself."

The Sith grunted, "If I introduced myself, would it make a difference?"

"It might. Or it might not." I told him.

He mockingly bowed his head to me and introduced himself, "Ordan Drust. The one in charge of this planet."

"Temporarily in charge." Annoli corrected him.

"Fine." I told Ordan, "You can call me Ceddes Nemea."

Ordan squinted at me, "A false name, no doubt."

I snickered, "Yeah... sort of. But if I told you my real name it may just reveal to much. So I can't afford to do that. I'm sure you understand."

He sighed. As he sighed his eye trailed over our faces until he looked at Zade. He stared at him for a moment. He smiled at Zade, "I recognize you, Jedi Master."

"Guess my cover's blown." Zade said, unfazed in his appearance.

"So the Curakunda finally accepted Jedi help? Interesting." Ordan said as he rubbed his chin.

I walked over to the central console and placed my finger on a button. Before I pressed the button to end the communication, I told him, "Sorry Ordan, but I'm afraid that's all we can discuss for now."

He nodded, "I see. By the way... I'm sorry I had to kill your friend."

After he finished, I hit the button and his image flickered away. Zade shook his head. Disappointed in himself, "Boy, did I mess up."

"Don't worry about it." I assured him, "We already lost the element of surprise during the last mission. If they know we have Jedi, it's not that big of a deal. Hopefully."

Zade raised an eyebrow, "I hope you're right."

---\__**V**__/---

Inside the Ch'godo Tower, when the transmission ended, Ordan turned towards his head officer and sighed, "That was pointless."

"But we now know that they are Jedi." The officer pointed out.

Ordan clicked his tongue on the side of his cheek as he rubbed his chin with his right hand as he thought to himself. He looked around the empty room. Only he and his officer were present during the transmission with this 'Ceddes' person. Eventually he told the officer, "This conversation with the rebels... never happened. Understood?"

A surprise look popped up on the officer's face, "...Alright. May I ask why?"

"You can ask but you won't find an answer." He said as he continued to think to himself.

"Ah..." The officer backed away, "I see..."

"What I can tell you, is that the Jedi are only a fraction of the opposition. I witnessed them first hand. They were not Jedi. At least not the ones I faced. Personally, I'm quite fascinated by them."

"Sir..." The officer told him in a reminding tone.

Ordan was snapped back into reality, "Oh right. It's that time again."

"Shall I patch you through?" The officer asked.

Ordan let out an annoyed sigh, "Yeah, yeah. Lets get this over with."

The officer activated the holo-cam. A static light flickered in the center of the room. The static then formed into a holo image of Darth Carnivis. The massive Togorian curled his upper, feline lip into a snarl, "Dammit, Drust. You dare keep me waiting?"

"Sorry." Ordan unconvincingly apologized, "Lost track of time."

"You're lack of respect for superiors annoys me. If it were up to me, you'd be dead." He told Ordan.

"I'm sure." Ordan said, emotionless.

"Just give me the report on the project." He hissed.

"100% above schedule." Ordan reported.

His snarl turned into a slight smile, "At least you're good for something."

"....Thank you." Ordan responded with mock enthusiasm.

"But I can't help but think you'll find a way to mess the project up."

Ordan grinned at him, "I believe it was you that messed it up in the first place. Now it's up to me to clean up your mess."

Carnivis snarled at him and changed the subject, "And as for the Curakunda? Have you found out who is helping them?"

Ordan paused for a brief moment before falsely reporting, "No."

The officer twitched uncomfortably when Ordan lied to the Darth. Carnivis furrowed his eyes into a dark glare, "...Is that so?"

"Yes." Ordan maintained.

"Well my Master doesn't want to take any chances. I'm sending two of my top pupils to Mautmua to deal with them." Carnivis told him.

Ordan gripped his hands into fists, "I don't need them."

Carnivis shook his head, "You're so disappointing, Drust... So you just stick to what you're useful for, business, and let the real Sith warriors take care of the Mautmua affliction."

"I _do not_ need them." Ordan repeated with added, forceful tones in his words.

Carnivis hissed at him, "Apparently.... you do. But I expected this from you, Drust. That's why I already sent them to Mautmua. They should be there by now. To insure they don't fail, I'm having them work independently from you. So try not to get in their way."

Before Ordan could object, Carnivis ended the transmission form his end and his image fizzled into static. Ordan jerked his head around in aggravation and snarled, "Feral cat!"

The officer took a step back from Ordan, "S-sir... I can't help but notice you seem to hate every Sith you are in contact with."

Ordan pounded his knuckles against the nearest computer terminal. Through grit teeth he answered, "Maybe.... What is your point?"

"Well... then why would you say you'd die for them?"

Ordan turned away from the officer and paused a long moment before ordering him, "...Get back to work."

---\__**V**__/---

Night fell over the Curakunda camp. Jax walked over to the Snap-Axel and walking into the back of the hull. There, Vayne had set up a couple of cots for them to sleep at. Rollo was already in his cot sleeping with a book he brought along. Folded over his face to block out any light. Vayne on the other hand was sitting at the controls of the ship, doing something with the controls.

Jax yawned as he walked over to Vayne and asked him, "What are you doing?"

Vayne yawned right back, "Just running an analysis of the ship's systems. Don't want to be caught off guard."

"Well then shouldn't you have done that this morning before we carried the turrets to the camp?" Jax asked.

Vayne shrugged his shoulders, "Um, yeah. Probably. But I'm doing it now."

Jax looked around the ship, "So where is the 'mouth'?"

"HotShot?" Vayne shrugged his shoulders, "No idea. She complained a lot about sleeping in the ship so she probably found somewhere else to sleep."

Jax yawned again, "...Man I'm tired."

Vayne looked back at Jax, "Why are you tired? Shot and I were the ones that did all the work setting up the turrets."

"Well I had to carry and hand you the tools. Those were heavy you know."

Vayne snickered and told him, "You're such a dweeb, Jaxter."

Jax suddenly winced and placed his hand on his forehead. He let out a pained hiss. Vayne turned around and asked, "Hey... Are you okay?"

Jax didn't answer right away. He just put out his free hand and braced himself against the nearest wall. Vayne got up and placed his arm on his shoulder, "Hey, kid. You feeling sick?"

Jax suddenly stiffened up, "Oh no!"

Vayne backed away, "Oh no? What's wrong?"

"Somethings out there!" Jax told him before running out of the ship.

Vayne called out to him, "Hey! What the...?"

Vayne quickly grabbed his lightsaber and took off after Jax. Where Jax was headed, Vayne had no clue, but the kid seemed pretty concerned about it.

---\__**V**__/---

The thing HotShot hated most about this backwater planet, was the lack of plumbing in the Curakunda camp. She had to settle for bathing in one of the area's last functioning rivers. Not that the Curakunda cared. The smelly creatures only bathed once a week. At best.

It was hard enough working with two bum knees from the Sith attack. But after a day of helping them carry and then install the defensive cannons around the camp, she'd be damned if she was going to bed covered if filth and dirt. For obvious reasons, she waited until the fall of night and when nobody was around to do so.

When she finished she got dressed and reached for her blaster holster. She hanged it over her shoulder as she looked back over her shoulder towards the hills. There she could see the lights from Curakuda camp. Between her and the camp was a meadow of tall grass. Each strand of grass had a waxy sap that glowed in the moon light. Causing the area to be illuminated. Some might say it was a beautiful sight. But she didn't care about that junk. She was more worried by a rustling in the grass. Was it wind, or something else?

She removed the blaster from its holster and aimed it towards the grass. She shouted out, "I swear if anybody is hiding back there I'm going to blow them a new hole!"

Nothing but silence after that. So she slid her blaster back into it's holster and reached towards a large bolder where she tossed her jacket. She grabbed it and threw it over her other shoulder. She rung some river water from her hair as she turned back to return to camp. When she turned back around though, she saw darkness. She hesitated a moment before she realized there was a giant, looming figure standing before her that blocked out the moonlight.

All she could see in the darkness was a large, broad silhouette of a fur covered humanoid and two cat-like eyes that glowed in the reflection of the moonlight around them. She was caught completely off guard and paused before she tried reaching for her blaster a second time. But she never stood a chance. The dark figure's reflexes were too fast. The moment her arm twitched, the figure reached out and wrapped it's fur covered hand around her neck. It's hand was so massive, the one hand wrapped completely around her neck. She couldn't breath at all and she felt as though her neck was going to snap in it's tight grip.

The hand lifted her, effortlessly, into the air by her neck. She desperately tried to reach for her blaster but the hand drew out claws from it's fingers that dug into her neck. Then shook her in mid air to knock both her jacket and holstered blaster to the ground. Pain struck her neck and entire body as she hanged there with claws digging into her flesh. Unable to breath or cry for help.

Her vision began to blur as her body began to fail on her. But as she was lifted further into the air, she saw a beam of moonlight hit her attacker's face. With it's face slightly illuminated she saw a large and harsh feline that snarled madly at her. Saliva dripping from it's mouth as it glared at it's helpless prey. She could feel her conciseness begin to slip away. Until the brief image of a liner, purple light flashed behind her attacker's body.

Jax snuck his way behind the attacker and slashed his lightsaber at it. The tip of his blade searing it's way through fur, but missing a vital blow as the figure quickly spun around to avoid the attack, dropping HotShot in the process. Jaxter shouted at the feline attacker and jabbed the tip of his saber towards it. The attacker quickly side stepped his attack. A flash of moonlight hit the attacker's waist. Jax caught a glimpse of a lightsaber handle strapped to it's waist. A Sith.

Jax's attention was turned away towards the lightsaber for just a moment but that moment cost Jax. The attacker countered Jax's missing stab with an clawed hand that slashed across Jax's body. Jax cried in pain as the claws dug into ribs and tore upwards across his face. He dropped his lightsaber in pain as blood poured from his devastating wounds.

HotShot, on her hands and knees gasping for air, saw this and called out for Jax as he fell to the ground, grasping his open wounds. Cradling his face. HotShot crawled to her fallen blaster and reached for it. But the attacker caught on to her. It spun towards her and let out a shrill snarl as her hand reached out and touched the base of her blaster. But the attacker was faster. It reached down with its hand, covered in Jax's blood, and grabbed her by the back once again. It pulled her up to her feet and then grabbed her by the neck with it's other hand. And once again it lifted her up by the neck and high into the air.

Through the long grass, Vayne emerged with his blue saber drawn. He saw HotShot in her helpless situation and called out," Put her down!"

The attacker got impatient with it's attacks being interrupted over and over again. It let out a final snarl at Hotshot before lifting her as high as it could. At the highest arc, it used it's full strength to slam her down. It didn't just slam her body to the ground. But it slammed her to the boulder where HotShot had kept her jacket. Her spine was driven into the rounded boulder. The air in her lungs escaped her as a harsh and violent snap came from her spine. The attacker released her and her body fell to the ground. Lifeless and still her body crumpled in a heap. Vayne cursed loudly when he saw her fall.

With HotShot and Jax taken care of, the attacker turned to face Vayne. Vayne breathed heavily as he tired to hold back his anger towards this assailant and fear for his friend's lives. He had no idea who, or what this thing was. But he could tell it was a more superior fighter than he was. And it wasted no time coming for him. With it's arms stretched out and claws extended.

Vayne had little time to think. But he was able to come up with one, desperate idea. The Force Point attack. Laan taught him the basics awhile back. During his two years in the academy, he had practiced on that move. It wasn't anywhere near Laan's capabilities but he was desperate and he had to try it. So when the attacker was in range, it slashed its claws towards him. Vayne focused on that one hand and stretched his own hand towards it. Vayen unleashed a Force Point attack that struck it's hand in the palm. Causing it's hand to crack and ripple down the middle. It hissed in pain and withdrew it's hand. Vayne quickly followed up and stabbed the tip of his saber towards the hand. The blade of the saber hit it's hand and pierced through it's palm. With a pained cry, the beast pulled its hand away from his blade and backed off. Vayne's eyes met with the beast. With a reluctant hiss, the beast turned away from Vayne and ran away a wounded animal.

Vayne switched his saber off and quickly ran towards Jax. Jax was huddled on the ground covering his face with his hands. His clothes torn and covered in blood. Jax was crying in pain. Vayne placed his hand on Jax's back and used a Force healing exercise that did little to nothing to help the poor kid. Vayne looked up from Jax and saw HotShot. She still hadn't moved. He had no idea what to do other than call out for anybody, "Help! For the love of.... HELP!"

As much as it pained him, he left Jax momentarily and rushed to HotShot's side. He whispered to her, "HotShot? V-Verru? Dammit, Verru say something."

He grabbed her and positioned her on her back as gently as he could. Keeping her head and neck straight. That's when he saw her eyelids flicker slightly. Showing him the slightest of life. A relieved but still concerned sigh escaped him. Jax had gathered himself and gotten to hie feat. Still bleeding and tears still falling from his eyes. He looked at her body, "N-no... Is she?"

"Alive but... I don't know, Jax." Vayne said helplessly.

Jax slowly and painfully limped his way over to them, "Please, Vayne. Get help."

Vayne stood up and nodded, "Right. J-Just stay here."

Jax fell, more like crumpled to the ground beside HotShot and began sobbing. Going against every emotion he had, Vayne left them to get help. All he could do was get help and pray the attacker didn't return. And pray those two would still be alright.

--- ---

Author's note: After a small break from writing I'm back. I doubt I'll still be able to update every two weeks because there is a home improvement project going on that's taking up a lot of free time. But it should br a quicker update than this last one that was just over a month, I think. So yeah.


	10. Chapter 10: Hunt

Chapter 10: Hunt

--- --- ---

Last night I was ready to call it a night and get a few hours of sleep. That's when we got the call from Rollo. The Camp was attacked by a mysterious creature. Jax was badly wounded and HotShot was in a critical but perhaps not life threatening condition. There was no sleeping after hearing that.

I gathered some of the team and we talked about what we should do. I was extremely conflicted. As a leader, it wasn't right for me to leave this command post at this time. But as a friend, I wanted to see them for myself. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Stay or go?

Me team talked me into going. I was Jax's mentor and, as Lwyn told me privately, HotShot still had a few feelings for me after all these years. They needed me both as a friend and leader. I had to go. Lwyn and Zade offered to stay behind and take over the base. As much as I hated to, Vayne picked Sanpak and I up in the Axel and flew us back to base. Sanpak was concerned over the safety of the Camp and wanted to lend her hand. Pssh.... some defensive help those turrets turned out to be.

The moment the Axel landed, Vayne pointed the medic tent out to me. I dashed across the camp and into the tent. There a young woman with orange hair and light green robes met with me. She was the doctor for the human colonists and looked after Jax and HotShot. In the back of the tent were three makeshift rooms made from curtain partitions. She pointed to the middle and left rooms. That's where they rested. It was kind of difficult deciding who to visit first. I hoped HotShot wouldn't be offended but I visited Jax first. He was just a kid and I was worried about him. So I entered the middle room.

When I entered I was taken aback by Jax's wound. He was sitting up on the edge of his bed. Slumped over, holding his lightsaber on his lap. He was shirtless but his torso was competently wrapped up in white bandages. They began at his waist and traveled up around his neck and even over his face. The bandages on his face wrapped around most of the left side of his face. Including his eyes and ear. Some were even wrapped completely around his head like on his forehead, nose, and chin. I could see dried blood that had soaked through parts of his bandages on his chest, stomach, and the left side of his face. Some of it was still wet and looked fresh. I put my hands on my hips and stared at him, "You should be laying down. Resting."

He didn't look at me. He just kept his uncovered right eye trained on his lightsaber, "I'm fine."

"Don't play tough."

He grunted back at me, "Hmph."

I walked over to his bed and stood before him, "Does it hurt?"

"No." He quickly answered.

"Be honest." I scolded in a soft tone.

He sighed, "A lot. It hurts a lot."

I nodded, "Vayne told me about the attack. If it's any consolation, I'm proud of you."

He began to protest, "Verru is-"

I quickly pointed at him and corrected him before he could doubt himself, "Alive because of you. And if you hadn't have sensed it, that thing could have killed HotShot and snuck into the camp. Who knows what it could have done then. Our side may, and probably would have suffered unrecoverable losses."

He paused a long second before pounding his lightsaber on his knee, "It was so weird, ya know. I was just talking with Vayne when I got this image in my head. An image of these fangs ripping through flesh. Then the river where HotShot was. It was like instinct."

"A vision. You're a strong minded little dude." I pointed to his wounds, "And apparently a strong bodied one too."

He involuntarily let out a chuckle as he opened his arms and looked down at his chest, "Yeah well... at least I'll have some omega-sweet scars to show off."

I chuckled back, "That's the spirit."

He nodded as he brightened up a bit, "Wounded my body, not my spirit." He then sighed and looked up at me, "But... have you seen Shot?"

I shook my head somberly, "No. Not yet."

"Her legs won't move. The Doctor says she'll probably never walk again. I mean that can't be right. There have got to be cybernetics out there to help her."

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. Issues with the spine are delicate and unpredictable."

"Oh..." He said as he lowered his head, "Well.. go see her already."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure I'm in a lot of pain... but yeah. I'm fine." He told me.

I gave him a smile and a nod. He waved me goodbye as I left his room. I then walked over to HotShot's room. With a deep sigh I pulled back the flap and entered her room. When I entered I saw a bed. She was laying on it with an orange blanket covering her up to her shoulders. I slowly walked over to the side of her bed and sat down at a stool. I looked down at her face, she moved her head to look at me and through a pained and strained voice told me, "Damn it. Why did it have to be you?"

I wasn't surprised by her reaction. I let it slide and joked back at her, "You know... if it hurts to speak, I would understand if you just, ya know, stopped talking."

"I bet you'd like that." She strained to say, "Well it ain't going to happen."

"Of course not."

She rolled her eyes and coughed painfully, "...You here to feel sorry for me? Huh?"

I raised a guilty eyebrow, "Yup."

She was silent for a few minuets. I just sat there until she felt ready to talk. If she didn't feel like talking... well I was just there. She eventually turned her head to me, "Did you see Jax yet?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Oh. Good." She said softly and looked away from me again, "He's a tough kid."

"Unnaturally so." I agreed. She was silent for another minute before I asked her, "... How much does it hurt, HotShot?"

As sharply as she could manage, she told me off, "Don't call me that! HotShot died last night. Now I'm just a defected body."

I wanted to tell her that was far from the truth but that would just pissed her off more. So I sat back and found myself at a loss for words, "I... I'm glad you're alive. I know it's not what you want to hear right now. But I want you to know that."

She looked away from me and covered her face with her hands. From the corners of her face I saw tears fall from her eyes. No matter how much she tried to hide them, I saw them. The only time I've ever seen her cry before was from laughing too hard. I never saw her so broken down mentally or physically. It was understandable and it broke my heart to see her like this. It made me upset. I figured it was best to leave her alone for now. I told her what I needed to tell her so I got up to leave. But before I left I gave her a promise, "I'll find what did this. And tear it apart."

She forced a laugh through her tears, "Make it suffer."

I clenched my jaw and told her with absolute certainty, "I will..."

---\__**V**__/---

After my visit in the medical tent, I wasted no time in gathering a tracking party. Vayne, Rollo, and by suggestion of the War Head, a trusted Curakunda hunter with gray fur by the name of Bameth. He was small for a Curakunda. But he was still the largest in the group. Bameth wore hardened leather around his chest and waist. And along with his Sadek staff, he had a cleaver type knife strapped to his back. Normally the cleaver was just used by hunters to cut their meats after the hunt's been killed for easier transportation. But Bameth is the type of warrior that will use whatever weapon he needs to get the job done.

Our first encounter with Bameth wasn't great. He is one of the many Curakudna that still hold a grudge against the Republic and Jedi. He wasn't fond of me, and I wasn't neither Jedi or Republic. When it came to Vayne and Rollo, he was downright cold. Glaring at the two in silence when he first saw them. But he was professional. He may not have liked us but he was going to work with us as if he did. That's all I could ask from him.

Obviously, the first thing we checked out was the scene of the attack. As we walked through the meadow that lead to the river, Vayne described the attack to us, "It was like a giant cat-man. To be honest, I thought it could have been Darth Carnivis because it fit the make. Large, powerful, feline-like, gray fur, and a ruthless predator. But if it was him, I don't think we would have survived."

I nodded, "No offense, but yeah. Carnivis is a ruthless slayer."

"I at least managed to wound the ornery lil' tabby." Vayne said with a proud smile, "With a Force Point and a stab into his hand. Small payback for Shot and Jax. I just wish it could have been it's heart, ya know?"

"Good work with the Force Point." I complimented.

Rollo scoffed and responded to Vayne's comment, "I swear, these Sith have no hearts."

Bameth grunted at Rollo. His voice was constantly hoarse when he spoke, "At least that is one thing we can agree on."

We exited from the meadow and into an open area of tall grass just before the river. I brushed some light green pollen from my armor and robes. I looked up and asked Vayne, "Where did it happen?"

Vayne took a deep breath and pointed out a large boulder to me that was half on land and half in the water, "That's where Shot got... you know. Spine first on the tip."

I grunted and turned my head away from the boulder, "Brutal."

Vayne nodded, "...Yeah..."

Rollo walked over to the boulder and ran his hand over the sharp curve of the boulder, "She's lucky shes alive."

When I turned my head, something caught my eye to my left. Something in a lone patch of long grass about four feet high. I walked over to the grass and ran my finger along a strand of the grass. From the grass, I plucked a tuft of slate-gray fur. The others walked over and Vayne asked me, "What did you find?"

I showed them the fur. Bameth took a few strands of the hair and looked it over, "Definitely not Curakudna hair. It's far too thick. This fur was pretty high on the stalk too. Whatever left this was big. Bigger than any animal around these parts."

I asked Vayne, "Is this the same color hair you saw?"

Vayne shrugged his shoulders, "It was night so... I'm not really sure. But its gray. It would certainly seem like the right color."

Bameth gazed towards a patch of forest off in the west, "If it is wounded it may have gone in there. There is a patch of bushes that grow in the shadows of the trees there. Those bushes produce a medicinal herb."

"I don't think A Sith would bother. If it needs a quick heal it'll just use bacta." I told them. I then turned to Vayne and told him, "I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure." He agreed.

I handed him the rest of the tuft of fur, "Take this back to the Axel. Contact Sbaki on the Zenith Black and send her a scan of the hairs. She can run a diagnostic of them."

Vayne took the hair and tucked it safely into a pocket, "Alright."

"Before you get in contact with her, make sure you fly the Axel far away from the camp. Since the message is going off world, they Sith'll probably be able to detect it."

"Right." Vayne agreed, "And we don't want them tracking it back to the camp's location."

"Exactly." I told him, "And when you hear back from Sbaki, get in contact with me."

"Of course." He smiled and patted me on the shoulder, "Show them we won't let an action like this rest."

"What about us?" Rollo asked.

"Sorry boys, but I'm going it alone from here." I told him.

"You? Alone?" Bameth questioned.

I nodded, "If I know anything... It's hunting Sith."

---\__**V**__/---

Night was falling once again. The previous night, the feral beast attacked the Curakunda base. Now the sun was nearly down. The sky an orange and ruby color as the sun barley hung in the sky. Now the feral beast stood under the ruby sky on the top of a green hill. Surrounded by forest. Off in the far distance he saw smoke billowing in the sky from a campfire in between a cluster of hills. The Curakunda camp. His target. His prey.

The attacker; a feline-humanoid Togorian with slate-gray fur. A black loincloth and belt with a rarely used lightsaber strapped to the side. A gray rag wrapped around it's injured hand. Its looked up at the sun and curled it's upper lip in anger. It wished only for night to fall so it could continue it's hunt from the previous night. This time it would kill the "green-one" that injured its hand and peel it's skin form it's bones to humiliate the one that humiliated it.

He turned away form the sky when he heard a small chirping alarm from behind him. Behind him on the ground lay a dish-shaped holo-player. It reached down and activated the player causing a life-size holo-image of Darth Carnivis to appear. The beast got down on one knee and bowed before his image. Carnivis looked down at him and asked, "What have you accomplished thus far, Predator?"

The beast only know as 'Predator' raised its head as it answered, "There are indeed Force-users on the planet." He then raised it's wounded hand towards the player, "I found and attacked their home base but shamefully was forced to flee."

Carnivis groaned in frustration but came to a realization, "Even if you failed your job you've at least succeeded in something. I know Ordan is aware there are Force-users on Mautmua but did not report that to me..." Carnivis took a moment to think to himself before asking Predator, "What are your plans on this night?"

Predator snarled and bared his fangs, "I'll finish the job I failed last night."

Carnivis nodded, "Good. Don't let those years of my training go to waste."

"Yes, master."

---\__**V**__/---

Night fell and the Predator curled it's upper lips into a fang filled smile. It's cat-like eyes glistened in the moonlight as it stood on the hillside. Gazing over the tops of the forest towards the Curakunda Camp. An orange glow of light from the Camp's campfires shined from the surrounding hillside. The Predator's smile widened as it imagined all the destruction it could cause. Sneak into the camp, slaughter the War Head and the "green-one" before setting everything and everyone on fire.

It gripped it's injured hand into a fist. It was painful. But a type of pain the Predator enjoyed. It let out a shrill snarl as it did before every hunt. This signaled to the Predator the hunt had officially begun. The feline bounded down the hillside to enter the forest where it would use the cover of the forest to reach the camp undetected.

The moment it came to the foot of the hill and the mouth of the forest, a blue light flashed and the humming of a lightsaber crackled from inside the forest. The Predator stopped in its tracks as the blue light flew by it's head and stabbed into the earth of the hill behind it. The Predator snapped its head around and looked at the blue light, the blade of a lightsaber. The Preadotr had to twist it's body around and down to the ground to dodge the lightsaber as it was summoned back from the side of the hill and back into the forest.

The Predator quickly scrambled back to it's feat and saw a human man in a black, full body robe with sand colored armor plating. He held the ignited saber in his hand and pointed the tip towards the Predator and glared at it with fury filled eyes.

---\__**V**__/---

The nocturnal cries of nightly predators sounded throughout the forest. A dark, haunted looking forest. Tall trees with gray trunks with dark green and long ribbon-like leaves. The branches were wide set and let little moon light slip through it's canopy. A dark and disturbing forest. Perfect condition for the nocturnal predators to hunt their unsuspecting prey. A condition that these predators thrive for. So confident at night. Making their kills while their prey can't even see them. Over confident. A nocturnal predator would never enter the darkness and expect to find its prey already there... waiting for it.

This Sith found me waiting for it and nearly felt the blade of my saber pierce it's head. If I really wanted to end it their, I could have. The Sith was so arrogant and so sure _it _was the predator that it never would have imagined it was _my_ prey. I could have been standing right beside it with a spotlight shining on me and it wouldn't have been able to sense me as a threat. But I did not want to end it that quickly. I promised Verru I would make it suffer. And I planned on doing just that. This cat had no idea what it was doing when it harmed my team. My family.

I arrived here by surprisingly easy circumstances. Earlier in the day Sbaki got back to me that the fur she analyzed was Togorian. The same species as Darth Carnivis. I knew that the one that attacked Jax and HotShot was not Carnivis but it was a coincidence I couldn't ignore. Perhaps Carnivis had himself an apprentice. So I gave Sbaki a simple order to monitor any off plant messages and the first off world message she monitored and tracked came from a hill just outside the Camp. A stupid, technical mistake by the Sith that I took full advantage of. I entered the forest, waiting for it. Knowing and sensing that I would come to me.

The Predator extended it's clawed hands to it's sides and snarled at me. It didn't say anything other than a snarl. I didn't say anything either. There was nothing to say. We both knew what this was about and we both knew that this was going to be violent.

It started quickly. It ran for me with claws and teeth glowing in the moonlight. I twirled my saber around my hand and quickly lunged it towards the panther's chest. Seeming effortlessly, it's body contorted mid-stride around my blade. Avoiding my attack. It didn't even lose a second of speed from it's chase. In a blink of an eye it's arms were in range of me and it took the opportunity to swipe it's claws over my extended arm and lightsaber, straight for my head. I quickly ducked under it's strike and tried counter attacking with a number of quick slashes and strikes. It tried doing the same to me with it's swiping claws. But we were both quick in our dodges and every one of our strikes whiffed through the air. Not one landing it's mark.

One thing was obvious however. It preferred to fight with its claws and not it's lightsaber. This thing was no apprentice of Carnivis. It was more like a beast aimed in one direction and let loose to do whatever it wished. At least it seemed that way judging from it's battle style. Which was fitting. With the images of Jax wrapped in bandages and HotShot nearly motionless in bed still burned in my imagination, I too felt like an aimed beast.

I was sick of this. Each attack it would dodge. With every whiff it only made me more upset. How dare this thing move around like this after crippling HotShot. A deep growl emitted from inside my chest as I instinctively let out a large sweeping strike aimed at it's head which caused it to rear back to avoid decapitation. For once, it was momentary staggered and knocked off balance. That's when I made my move.

In one movement I thrust my saber towards it's chest with one hand. With my free hand I reached down towards my belt. The Predator was quick to realize I had knocked it of balance. It didn't have the footing to dodge this strike so it quickly ignited it's lightsaber and removed it from it's belt in lightning quick speed to block my attack. But I was one step ahead. With my free hand on my belt, I summoned a second lightsaber into my other hand and ignited it. All of this happening in a quick but hectic second.

I had it exactly where I wanted it. With my first saber occupying the attention of his only lightsaber, my second blade was left unblocked. I stabbed the second blade to his right side. I poked the blade under his armpit between his arm and chest and slashed it upwards. The blade sliced clear through his shoulder. He snarled in pain as his right, lightsaber clutching arm fell to the ground with a lifeless thump. It desperately backed away from me and pointed it's hand towards me, the same hand Vayne had injured, and let out a Force Push. I respond with a Force Push of my own that hit and canceled each other out with a loud slam. He took the moment to turn his back to me and try to run up the hill and away from me. What a pathetic, armless coward. As it took it's first steps to flee I switched my second blade off and pointed that hand towards it's feet. I glared at the coward and let out a Force Point to the back of it's right knee. It howled as it's knee crippled under it's weight and he tripped to the ground.

With my hand still pointing to it's body I took striding, meaningful steps closer to it. It tired to hobble up on it's other leg but another Force Point to it's other knee caused it to fall stomach first into the dirt. I stood only a few feet from it as it used it's still able arm to crawl away from me. I growled at the beast as I reached it and thrust my still ignited blade into it's elbow. Stabbing the blade through his arm, into the ground. Pinning it. One arm gone, two knees crippled, and the other arm pinned to the hill. I stood over its helpless body. It let out a pathetic sigh of defeat. Knowing and finally accepting it's loss.

As I stood over it, I pointed my hand over it's spine. I glared harshly as I motioned the fingers of my hand in a choking motion. As if my fingers were wrapping around it's spine. I was breathing extremely heavily as I felt like snapping it's spine with the Force. Imagining the satisfying sound it would make. The suffering it would go through to avenge HotShot and Jax. And I nearly did. But a cooler head prevailed and I lowered my hand to my side. I promised HotShot I'd make it suffer. And I had to an extent. But it was a promise I shouldn't have made. I didn't want to be like that. On Hyarsythe I was like that. I brutally slaughtered a student I nicknamed, "Shirtless". But then I blamed it on Phyress and the Sithrimi. None of those things existed anymore. It was just me and my choice. I had already gone to far with this beast. No more brutality.

I shook my head in disgust with myself and pulled my saber from it's arm. Then with a quick stab to the back of the neck I gave it a quickly and hopefully painless deathblow. I stood there helplessly while I clipped my saber handles to my side. I then put my hands on my hips as I stared down at the slain beast's body. This... was not at all satisfying.


	11. Chapter 11: Merciless Flame

Chapter 11: Merciless Flame

The same night I had slain the cat-like Sith, I paid HotShot a final visit before I headed back to the command post to give her the news. Jax was already asleep but the medic told me HotShot had taken a medication that made her sleep all day long. So now she was up all night..

I walked into her section of the medical tent. She way still laying in her bed. Staring up at the ceiling. I announced myself and made my way over to the side of her bed. She turned her head to look at me as I sat down on a stool, "Judging by the blood stain on your armor, I'm guessing you got it."

I yawned and nodded. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief, "Well... at least that's something. What was it?"

"Sith. Togorian." I answered.

"Oh... Did you make... it suffer?"

I looked at her and raised a very tired eyebrow, "To an extent, yeah."

She sighed again and looked up at the ceiling, "I had some time to think... a lot of time to think. Maybe it wasn't fair of me to ask that of you."

I shook my head, "No. You have every right. I just... stopped myself before I went too far. Ya know?"

"Well, I'm glad you did." She said, "You're the cool head of the group. Even during our days as freedom fighters you were the level headed one. Level headed enough to leave before things got out of control. Who knows, maybe thins got out of control because you left. N-not that I'm putting any blame on you. It's just... You need to stay level headed for all of us. I mean, what would you do if something happened to Lwyn? How would you react to that?"

I rubbed the back of my head as I thought out loud, "I... don't have an answer for that."

"Well you'd better learn to grieve like a normal person because we can't have you losing your freaking mind. What do the Jedi call it?"

"Falling to the dark side." I told her.

"Yeah that. Can't have it. You're better than that. Better than the Sith and better than those uptight Jedi. Got it?"

I let out a yawning chuckle, "Yeah, sure. I must say, you sound more upbeat than you were earlier."

"Yeah... Maybe I'll walk again, maybe I won't. Either way I can still shoot a blaster right? I'm sure Sbaki can figure out an easy way from me to pilot a fighter. Legs are overrated."

I smiled as she put on a brave face for my behalf. I knew she was still scared on the inside but I played along, "Should have known better. Thinking this would keep you down for too long. I never expected it to be a day though. So does this mean you want to be called HotShot again?"

"That's my name isn't it?" She asked with a cocky tone.

I nodded, "Yeah... But to be honest I never liked that name. It doesn't roll off the tongue like a nickname should."

"Pssh... What do you know, _Laan_?"

I yawned yet again, "Yeah, whatever."

She turned to look at me, "Geez would you stop yawning? Why don't you go do one of your sleep meditations and out of my damn tent?"

I rubbed my eyes. Normally, I actually preferred regular sleep to meditation. It just felt more natural. But at this point I just wanted what was quicker so I could get back to my base. I stood up from my stool and looked down at her, "Alright. Just tell me if you need anything else before I leave."

She shook her head, "No. Thanks."

"Be sure to tell Jax I said goodbye?" I asked.

"Of course. See you later, Laan."

I waved her goodbye as I left the room, "Later, HotShot."

---\__**V**__/---

Chancellor Rasch Mungand entered into his office. With a sigh he loosened a collar on his all white robe. He had just gotten back from being a special guest at a banquette in the honor of someone he had never even met before today. And then give a pre-written speech about this person he knew nothing about. The duties of Chancellor were not what got to him. It was the people. Everyday, _every_ single day, he dealt with the two-faced phoneys, bigoted narcissists, crooked tycoons, and politicians that were never satisfied. But it was worth it. The Republic was making great strides in rebuilding it's reputation after the past misdeeds of his predecessor.

He walked over to his desk with tired feet and flopped down into his chair. He yawned as he closed his heavy eyes and slumped his head against the back of his chair. Perhaps, a quick nap was in order. But the chirping of his intercom ended any hope for that. He sighed to himself, "...Of course."

With his eyes still closed and head head slummed, he reached over and slapped the receiving button to his intercom, "Yes?"

His assistant, a female Gran, answered back, "Chancelor, Senator Howl Frimore is here to see you. He says its of an urgent matter."

Rasch hit the 'mute' button and cursed out loud. Of course it would be Howl. The Arkanian senator that represented a group of smaller Core worlds. Howl was arrogant, narcissistic, and opposed Rasch every step of his Chancellorship. He would always be sneaky about it to. Howl was the type to the speak kindly to your face. Even if the tone of his kind words were obviously venom filled. Meanwhile, as he spoke _kindly_ to you, under his robes he is sharpening a blade to stab in your back as soon as you show it to him. Howl was heavily against Rasch becoming Chancellor two years ago. Especially the way it happened. Rasch un-muted the intercom, "Very well. Let the Senator in."

"Yes, sir." The assistant said.

Rasch opened his eyes and stood up straight in his chair. As the door to his office opened, Rasch stood up to greet Howl. Howl came walking in his usual elaborate robes. Golden fabric wrapped around his broad body. He was a tall, middle aged man with white, shoulder length hair. His face was square and blocky. Like all of the Arkanian race, he could pass as Human if not for his pure white eyes. As Howl approached his desk, Rasch gave him a bow of the head, "Welcome Senator."

Howl smiled and bowed back to Rasch, "Thank you for allowing me."

Rasch gestured towards a guest chair, "Please, sit." Howl sat down. Rasch sat down after him. Rasch asked him, "So what urgent topic have you come to discuss with me?"

Howl's face kept smiling. One of those disingenuous smiles that Rasch had come to know so well, "Chancellor, it has recently come to my attention that you approved a sort of... _military presence_ to a planet called, Mautmua?"

Rasch grit his teeth and sat back into his chair. Peering at Howl he asked him, "And just how did you hear of this, Senator?"

"You aren't denying it then?" Howl asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot comment, confirming or denying, about anything of such a nature." Rasch told him.

Howl snickered, "Well, just by saying_ that_ you have basically admitted it. Correct?"

Rasch remained silent. Howl continued, "I don't recall the Senate ever approving such a mission."

"That is because no such subject was brought before the Senate." Rasch told him.

"Hmm..." Howl thought out loud as if he hadn't rehearsed this entire argument beforehand, "If such a mission was issued without the approval of the Senate, you could be in some serious trouble... Hypothetically speaking."

Rasch raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't see why I would. The Senate is not a board, overlooking military actions."

Howl smiled and pointed at Rasch, "Is that so? This, speaking as a General?"

"Former General. And yes. I know personally that unnecessary havoc is caused when the Senate sticks their nose in something they have nothing to do with. The Senate mediates disputes, we regulate trade, we do what we can to bring issues to a peaceful end. To protect the people. But there comes a point when the Senate's job ends and the military begins. The past few generations of senate seem to have forgotten this."

Howl nodded, "True. But the Senate and the people of the galaxy are fickle. Everyone is blissful with things when they are going right or even staying stable. But when things fail, people panic and look for someone to point the finger. And you put yourself in the position to be the person that gets blamed when this falls apart. This mission, the Jedi, everyone is looking at you when they fail."

"The Jedi? What do the Jedi have to do with this?"

"Don't you remember what the Jedi were like years ago? They assassinated your predecessor."

Rasch shook his head, "That was a group of Jedi that no longer exist."

"Perhaps. I do not agree with what Errdict did. He overused the Jedi and then stripped them of their power. That was wrong. But it happened. And now you've returned freedom to the Jedi. Too soon. They are... a bunch of freaks. To put it bluntly. I don't think they can be trusted as they used to."

Rasch leaned forward, "I strongly disagree with that statement, Senator."

"I know you do. But think about it. Their power is devastating. Their morals are just and righteous. But they are one broken moral away from causing galaxy wide terror. What are the Sith's origins if not Jedi with broken morals?"

"The same exact thing could be said about the Republic." Rasch argued, "All it takes is one evil mind to throw the galaxy into absolute hell. Any form of leadership or higher organization runs that risk."

"But none of us have the Jedi's powers. Force users are dangerous and need to be handled delicately. You gave them their power back too quickly."

"Well if they return to old habits, I guess I will pay the price. I will gladly take that risk because I have faith in the Jedi."

Howl smiled, "..._Admirable_, Chancellor. And what about Mautmua?"

Rasch folded his arms over his chest, "How much do you know and what makes you so sure there will be a failure."

Howl stood up from his seat and tugged on his robes, "I know enough. I'll let you know right now. The moment I hear of a single failure that I can pin on you, you will be removed from your position."

Rasch raised an eyebrow, "Well that is surprising for you to tell me beforehand. I appreciate the warning. Is there anything else you needed, Senator?"

Howl smiled and shook his head, "No. Nothing for now."

---\__**V**__/---

I was having a dream. It must be a dream. After all, I was looking at myself from a third person perspective. But it seemed too real to be a dream. I was to aware of where I was. It was more like an outer body experience. My conscious self was looking at the back of my body. My body was standing in the middle of a plain field. The ground was dead lands with nothing but barren ground. At least that's what I thought at first. When I focused further on the ground I realized it wasn't barren. It was scorched. From one horizon to the next. The land was scorched to nothingness.

When I focused back on my body, there were large heaps laying at my feet. Bodies. Three bodies burned to the point of being completely unrecognizable. That was when my conscious self was sucked back into my body and my regular perspective returned. I was still aware inside my head that this was not real. But my heart was broken. Whoever these burned bodies were I felt greatly saddened by their deaths. They were comrades... or maybe something more. I couldn't tell.

When I looked up from the bodies, I heard the crackling of a large fire emit around my body. Large walls of fire surrounded my body and roared upwards, Bending forward into a curved ceiling. I was in the center of a dome of fire. For a dream, this was too real. I could feel the heat of the flames on my skin. Ember was raining down on me. Singeing and burning my flesh. As I stood there I could hear the roars of the fire. At times, it sounded as if the fire was laughing at me. Crazy, but true. It was cackling at me.

My body moved on its own. My consciousness was present in my body but I had no control of what my body was doing. My body cried out in anger as it threw it's arms outward. Using a phantom use of the Force to compress the air around my body and suddenly expel the air outwards like an explosion of air that dispelled the roaring fire.

With the dome of fire gone, the area surrounding me had changed. From scorched lands to a lush green valley of hills. I was standing on top of the largest hill in the valley. At the bottom of the hill was a wide open ravine between the hills. A ravine big enough to be a valley within a valley. A river ran through the middle of the ravine. Surrounding the river was a village. Curakunda and humans were walking around town in a normal, civilized manner. A peaceful existence.

As I watched the village from afar, a giant shadow was cast over the ravine. I looked up towards the sky and saw a giant Republic Warship hang above the village. Blocking out the sun. Again my body reacted on its own. I extended my arms towards the Warship. One arm focused on the front of the ship. The other focused on the rear. Then using another phantom and devastating use of the Force, I pulled. I pulled the ship apart. Right down the middle. Metal twisted and rippled as the ship was separated into two halves.

The front end of the ship exploded into a massive wave of fire. Fire that enveloped the front half of the ship and began to twist around like a sideways tornado of fire. The three burned bodies at my feet turned to balls of fire and were sucked up into the tornado of fire. After only a few seconds, the twisting fire vanished into a quick and sudden vortex of nothingness. Leaving the back end on the torn ship hovering in the air. It remained airborne for a few seconds before it began to fall. Like slow motion. The massive hunk of metal tipped backwards and fell engine first towards the ground. Towards the village. The Curakunda and Humans kept on with their lives. Not knowing what was coming down upon them. I wanted to look away. But my body would not respond. It would not turn it's head. It would not close its eyes. I was forced into watching the hunk of metal crash into the the unsuspecting village. Exploding on impact. Swallowing the village in a blaze of fire. More fire. It's always fire. Burning, unmerciful fire.

The fire from the explosion spread out across the entire ravine and traveled up the hills. Headed right for my body. My body didn't react. It just stood their waiting. Moments before the flames hit me they vanished and everything went dark. Absolutely everything. I was just standing in a dark void with nothing around me.

I was trapped there for minutes until the darkness rippled meters before me. A rippling of light in the dark void. Suddenly, a massive form leaped from within the ripple and landed a few from in front of me. Whatever this thing was, for some reason I knew it to be a Sith even though it had no visible indication that it was. It stood up straight and towered above me. Nearly ten feet high. This thing was like two beings in one. Half and half. The left half was a human-like body with blue, illuminating skin. Faceless features on it's half of the face. The only feature on its face was a completely black eye.

The other half had a much larger body. Humanoid but massive in size. It's half of it's body was completely black. Like a shadow. It's face too, was featureless. Except it's eye. A glowing, feline-like eye.

The mysterious creature sprawled forward without warning. It tackled my body to the ground. My body did nothing to respond as my back hit an invisible floor. It placed it's massive knees on my shoulders to pin my to the ground. Not that it needed to. My body didn't do anything to resist. The shadow half of it's body raised a fist and brought it down across my face. The pain was real. I felt like my face had been caved in. It raised its fist to punch me again. The black eye on the illuminated half of the body peered down at me and looked... almost sympathetic. Maybe regretful. Before it could punch me again, it's body reared backwards. It stood up and took a few steps away from my body.

It began to fight with itself as it continued to reel backwards. Then it wrapped it's arms around it's own body. The shadow arm grabbed onto the illuminated half. While the illuminated half grabbed onto the shadow half. Then the two halves pulled. Ripping it's body in half. The two halves separated and vanished back into the ripple of light.

Before I could grasp any of this, my conscious was pulled out of my body and sucked into the ripple of light. The next thing I know my eyes were open and I was gasping for air as if I had stopped breathing. I was laying down. I quickly sat up and took a look around. I was in a cot inside the back of the Snap-Axel. Where I had sat for a resting meditation but must have fallen asleep instead.

I took a deep breath and brought my right hand up to my cheek. It felt extremely sore and swollen from where I was punched. But when my hand touched my cheek, it felt normal. It wasn't swollen. The pain was real but the injury was not.

I sat that way for a few minutes. It took awhile for me to gather my mind and understand what was going on. I was back to reality now and I had witnessed another one of my visions. Great... another vision. Nothing good ever comes from these.


	12. Chapter 12: Ghost Town

Chapter 12: Ghost Town

I sat in the back of the Axel as we headed back to the command post with Vayne and Rollo. I sat there in silence with my hands folded on my lap as I thought back to my vision from last night. There were times in the past I had visions of warning and I had no idea what they meant until it was too late. Other times my visions have helped guide me through tough times. I have no idea which vision I had experienced. Maybe both. Maybe neither. But it sure seemed like this was a vision of warning. A warning that if I couldn't solve seemed to end badly for everyone.

So I tried to dissect my vision piece by piece and try to solve it that way. But doing that worried me. I may overlook a grouping of the vision or look at it from the wrong perspective. Everything was cryptic. None of it was clear enough to understand. If there was one part that I felt I understood, it was the shadowy side of the half-bodied Sith. The one with the feline eye. That was either representative of Darth Carnivis or the Predator I had already slain. Or both? Ugh... Even that was cryptic to me. But if that half was either Carnivis or the Predator, who was the other half? A Sith with blue, illuminating skin? Was it that Ordan Drust I had communicated with earlier? It seemed plausible.

Ordan Drust, the half of the Sith that seemed to show my vision-self empathy and helped tear itself down the middle? If that is the case... what does that make Ordan? What kind of relevance is he? And why show me empathy?

As usual, or at least well over half the time I have a vision, it only threw hundreds of new questions at me without answering a damn thing. What happened to the good old fashion vision where I saw the Sith hiding on a moon? Simple and to the point. Find them, kill them. Maybe I was just getting old. As I was growing more mature and more cynical, so too were my visions. Or maybe... I was just very tired and stressed from not getting much sleep and I was just a little loopy in the head during my vision.

Rollo was sitting across from me in the back. He leaned over and offered me a liquid pack. A small, sealed pouch with a refreshing and quenching liquid inside, "Sir? Are you okay?"

I thanked him as I accepted the pack. I dug my index finger in a collapsible tab to open the pouch. I took a mighty sip from the pouch and let out a satisfied sigh. I looked at him and slumped forward, "I'm fine. Just a little exhausted."

"Well that's reasonable, sir-"

"Please stop calling me _sir_."

"Right. Sorry."

There was a long moment of silence before I asked Rollo, "If I may ask, about Lou and what happened in the weapon's depot."

Rollo's body language turned slightly anxious as he stiffened into an upright position, "About how he died?"

"Yes. More specificity, the Sith you encountered. Ordan Drust."

"The one that murdered the Captain?" Rollo added with a rough undertone.

I awkwardly shifted in my seat and took another sip, "Ahem... Well yeah."

"What do you want to know?"

"Well I heard from HotShot and Rento the discussion that went down before the incident. From what it sounds to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Lou initiated things."

Rollo took obvious offense. His body tensed up and looked ready to throw a punch. But he took a deep breath and bit down on his lower lip, "Are you saying everything was his fault?"

I finished off the rest of my pack and tossed it to the floor, "I'm not saying anything. I wasn't there. That's what I want you to tell me. From your perspective."

Rollo looked down at the floor as he answered me, "Well... He did start things. He fired the first shot. But he was just trying to get a jump on the Sith."

"Did Ordan give you any reason to believe he was there to attack you?"

Rollo looked at me as though I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had. Firmly he told me, "He-is-a-Sith! Of course he was there to attack us."

I rubbed the back of my head, "Right... Right."

"What is wrong with you?" He asked, upset with me.

I shook my head and dismissed my line of questioning, "I don't know. Forget I said anything. "

He crossed his arms over his chest, "I_ will _forget. I suggest you do the same because you sound like you're turning on your own side."

I glared across the ship at him, "Hey now. I never meant it that way."

We felt the ship lower for its landing. Rollo didn't respond any further. He just sat back and never made eye contact with me for the rest of the landing. When the ship touched down, Vayne lowered the back ramp. Before the ship had even settled into its fully parked position, Rolllo got up from his seat and made his way towards the exit. Lwyn was standing outside the ramp, greeting us as we exited the ship. She had to step out of the way as Rollo came charging down the ramp. I got up and walked over to the ramp as she turned to look back at me, "Geez. Whats with him?"

"Oh. Me and my big mouth."

She put her hands on her hips and raised an assuming eyebrow, "What did you say?"

I shook my head, "I'll get to that later."

She met me at the bottom of the ramp with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I hugged her back. The moment I did she sharply jabbed the knuckle of her index finger into my side. I winced and wriggled out of her grasp, "Oww! What was that?"

She leered at me, "What do you think? I heard you went and hunted a Sith without telling me about it."

Vayne came down the ramp behind me. Chuckling all the way, "Well, well, well. Big ol' Laan the slayer of Sith Lords is whipped."

"He's not whipped" Lwyn said for me.

I frowned at her, "Yeah. Thank you for defending me... dear."

She mockingly smiled back at me, "Whatever. Anyways, I came here to tell you that Zade took Annoli and Caily to a Curakunda village while you were gone."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"We got a report an hour ago. A village near here. All the residents just vanished." She told us.

"Vanished? An entire village just vanished?" Vayne questioned.

"Not the village." She corrected him, "Just the villagers. And then the war Head sent a party of their own to investigate but they never returned. Since you put Zade and I in charge while you were away, we figured that the Jedi might do well in this investigation. You know... the innocent needing help and them being guardians and what-not. In return the War Head is sending out additional forces to the command post to make up for the loss of the Jedi presence."

Vayne slumped his head forward and leaned on my shoulder, "Let me guess. That means I have to go back to the Camp and pick them up. Right?"

I patted him on the back of the head, "Only cuz you're so good at it."

He groaned in frustration as he stood back up, "Fine. Spent two years in the academy for delivery boy status. Great. _Awesome_."

Lwyn smiled at Vayne and patted him on the shoulder, "I knew you wouldn't mind."

Vayne grunted and shoved us away from the ship's ramp, "Alright then. Get out of here while I go do all the_ real_ work."

Lwyn and I walked away from the Axel as Vayne prepared it to return to the Camp. Together we walked back to the command post. I was quite and Lwyn picked up on it, "Whats with you? Did you have another vision?"

I stopped in my place and looked at her surprisingly, "How did you know that?"

She smiled and turned to me. She put her hands on my chest and adjusted the armor plating on my robe, "Oh you know. You're my husband and I love you. I just know you so well."

"Really?"

She rolled her eyes and shoved my chest, "No, you gullible idiot. I had no idea. I just made a random guess and it happened to be right."

"Oh." I chuckled, "That's good. I was worried if you could read me that successively, you might find about my secret wives."

She tilted her head and let out an offended and sarcastic laugh, "Oh, ha-aha."

I patted her on the top of the head to rub it in further, "Don't worry. None of them are as pretty as you are."

She slapped my hand away from her head, "Lets change the subject."

"Alright." I agreed.

"How are Jax and Shot doing?"

"Jax is doing surprisingly well. His wounds seem to be strictly physical and nothing mental. He is a tough kid."

"Are you sure he wasn't putting on a show for you?"

I shook my head, "Pretty sure. You never know for certain. But he seemed eager to get back into fighting health. So much so that I had to tell the medic to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't push himself too far."

"And Shot?"

I sighed, "Honestly... I don't know if she'll ever walk again."

Lwyn hung her head in disappointment, "Oh... I see."

"At first she was as broken down as I'd ever seen her. It broke my heart a bit to see her like that. But she toughened it up a bit before I left. Probably for my sake more than her own."

Lwyn forced a smile on her face, "Well you know this won't keep her down for long. If anyone has the energy and motivation to pull out of this, it's her."

"That is the truth."

We reached the entry way of the command post and we stooped. She placed her hand on my back and looked at me, "So... Tell me about your vision. Yes?"

"Alright." I agreed, "I'll tell you inside where we can sit and talk about this. This vision is especially confusing."

She didn't seem at all surprised, "I'm sure."

Thinking about my vision I had a twitch in the back of my mind. I rubbed the back of my head and asked Lwyn, "Wait... where did you say Zade and the others headed off to?"

-\_**V**_/-

The humming of speeders sounded throughout an abandoned valley. Most of the area was covered in woodlands. Large patches of the woodlands were dead and brown while rare patches of green still remained. Holding on to the last ounce of their life. Running through the middle of the woodlands was a dirt path leading into a village in the direct center of the valley. Two speeders, Sith speeders stolen from the captured command post, buzzed down the path. Headed for the village.

Zade in the lead speeder while Annoli followed in the second speeder. The blind Caily sitting and holding onto the back of Annoli's speeder. All of them wearing white, protective helmets with green visors over their heads. Through patches of dead, twiggy trees Zade saw the outskirts of the village approaching. He slowed the speeder to a snail's pace at the sight of an iron gate at the end of the road. The gate was closed so he had to park the speeder and get off. Annoli and Caily followed suit.

Zade removed his helmet and set it on the back of his speeder. He looked over to the village. It seemed the entire perimeter was surrounded by a four meter tall iron gate with foot long gaps of iron rebar-looking posts. From what he could see through the gate the village consisted of houses made of mixtures of stone, metal, or wood. All built into long rows. Near the western edge of the village he saw a windmill turning. The windmill was a distance away from him but the area was so quite Zade could hear it churning from his position. Except for the windmill, the Jedi, and the occasional gust of wind through the woods, nothing made a sound. The village seemed completely abandoned. Zade turned to face the other two as they got off their speeder, "Be very cautious. Things are not right here."

Caily removed her helmet and carelessly just dropped it into the dirt. She sniffed the air, "Machines. Can you smell it? Their stench fills the air."

Annoli removed her helmet and placed it on the speeder, "You mean the speeders? They do kind of smell."

"No." Zade told Annoli, "She means the scent of oil in the air. Its not from out speeders. Its quite strong. There was something very large here. Or perhaps a lot of smaller machines. And I don't think it was one of their hunting planes."

"Maybe a giant alien ship came in and abducted the villagers?" Caily suggested with a snarky smile.

Annoli began walking for the gate, "Well why don't we just see for ourselves?"

Zade and Caily followed after her and the three approached the gate. The door to the gate was one long piece of iron fencing that hinged to a single post off to the side. Caily called out loudly to anybody that could here her, "Hello Curakunda-people? We're not here to kill you!"

Zade rolled his eyes, "Yes. Nice touch, Caily."

"I'm sorry. Were we here to give them the impression we _are_ here to kill them?" Caily asked rhetorically.

Annoli reached out with her foot and kicked the iron gate. To which it swung back slightly. Annoli raised an eyebrow, "Well it's not locked."

"Silly, villagers. Maybe that's why they were abducted. They forgot to lock their door." Caily said with another snarky smile.

"Whats the point of this gate anyways?" Annoli asked, "Its too flimsy to hold back any Sith or Turr'shek."

"I think it was used to keep the wild animals out." Zade answered before pointing back to the dying woodlands, "Back when there were beasts to be worried about."

Zade walked over and leaned his shoulder into the gate. Swinging it open. Annoli and Caily entered through the open gap. Zade followed right after them. They walked further into the village down dirt roads. Past a few rows of lifeless houses. They looked down every roads they passed. Looking for any sign of life. But they found none. Zade called out, "Hello? Anyone?"

"I think it's pretty obvious that the village had been abandoned." Caily told him.

"It would sure seem that way." Zade said.

"Are we sure they just didn't leave or something?" Annoli asked, "It's not like there is any point to stay around in this village. It's all dead or dying here. And so far I don't see any sign of a fight or resistance of any kind. Other than the scent of oil in the air, and the obvious fact there is nobody here, everything seems normal."

"Don't let your guard down, Annoli." Zade told her, "Don't overlook the obvious and let the unknown distract you."

They continued walking deeper into the village at a slow, alert pace. Making sure they got a good look at every area they passed. As they walked Zade added, "It could be that something spooked the villagers into hiding."

"A giant robot rat with laser-eyes." Caily joked.

Annoli shook her head, "Nah. That would have left too big of a trail. We would have found it by now."

"Then perhaps a giant robot hawk with impenetrable feathers."

Annoli snickered, "Perhaps... Perhaps."

Zade let out an exhausted sigh, "... You two..."

"Shh!" Caily suddenly stopped and signaled for them to to do the same.

They stood there in alert silence. Annoli and Zade resting their hands on their lightsaber handles. Caily tilted her head as she focused her Force-sight forward. She whispered to them, "In the center of the town. I can see... shadows. Lifeless silhouettes."

They quickly jogged past rows of houses, headed to the center of the village. They reached the center and stopped suddenly as they looked upon a village square with a stone monument of the War Head. It currently stood about 3 meters tall. But at one point it was taller. The head of this statue had been decapitated clear across the neck. The head laid on the ground at the statue's feet. Along with the bodies of five Curakunda. Their bodies scorched to lethal levels. These the 'lifeless silhouettes' Caily saw. Caily shook her head, "The search party found something..."

Annoli's jaw dropped, "This is horrible."

Zade furrowed his eyebrows and reached for his lightsabers, "This is a trap."

Annoli and Caily both reached for their lightsabers as well. All three of them igniting their blades. A moment later Zade's fears were confirmed when off in the distance the windmill exploded from with inside. The vanes of the windmill were engulfed in fire and fell to the ground. Sprouting from the explosion, house after house began to catch fire rapidly in a domino effect. House after house in the outer perimeter of the village caught fire and began to form a circle of fire around the village. Snaring the Jedi in a wall of fire. Caily cursed to herself for being so foolish, "It wasn't not machine oil. It's accelerant."

Zade ordered the other two to start running while they still could. But only after a few footsteps away from the village square, they heard the hissing of a flamethrower shoot a stream of fire. A split second later the ground before them erupted into a wall of fire. They had to take leap back as the fire screeched across the ground and caught onto a house near them. Catching the house on fire.

Zade squinted into the wall of fire in front of them as a black figure emerged. A behemoth of a man clad in fire-proof armor. Covering his body was a thick, black, rubber-looking, sheet of fireproof material with a shiny gloss in the light of the fire. The sheet covered his chest and skirted down to his ankles. His head was covered in a massive. metal. bucket-like, helmet. The dark gray metal covered his entire head and neck except for a black visor for his eyes and a black breathing mask built in near the mouth. Stretching down the helmet from the back of his neck and strapped to his back was a thick tank or some type of liquid.

Morbidly enough, his massively muscular arms were bare except for thick black and metal gauntlets. Pale flesh scarred with red blisters and dark burn marks were carved into his skin from years of abuse. He held his arms out as he walked through the fire. Grasped in his right hand a red, Sith lightsaber with a thick, fireproof handle. Running from the tank on his back down his left arm, a tube connected into his left gauntlet.

When he had fully emerged from the fire he cackled through an electric voice box built into his respirator and twitched his left hand. Activating the flamethrower on his gauntlet. A blast of fire screeched forward. Headed towards the Jedi. Zade had to dodge to his left while Annoli and Caily had to leap towards the right as the fire roared between the two groups.

Annoli and Caily both dodged towards the side of a nearby house. Caily's Force sight temporally blinded by the powerful flash of the fire, she rested her free hand against the outside wall of the house to keep her direction. The Sith cackled again and aimed his left hand at the two. His human-less, electric voice echoed from his helmet, "Predictable!"

Caily quickly removed her hand from the wall when she felt a wet, stickiness cover her hand. Caily cursed to herself again as she realized the wall was covered in the liquid accelerant. Before her sight returned, the Sith twitched his hand and shot forth another blast of fire. This one hitting the side of the wall. The wall rapidly erupted in an inferno. Annoli was able to leap before the fire got her. But Caily was still partially blinded and was too lost to move fast enough. She was able to take a step back from the wall in time to avoid a fatal burn. But the reach of the fire was able to extend out far enough to find the accelerant stuck on her hand. The bottom of her hand ignited into a small but devastating fire.

Caily screamed in pain and grabbed her hand. Losing herself and nearly backed into another blast of fire from the Sith. But Annoli quickly dropped her sabers to the ground and grabbed Caily in a hug. Annoli popped her hips and quickly pulled Caily down to the ground and away from the blast of fire. When they hit the ground, Annoli quickly grabbed Caily's burned hand and rubbed it palm down against the dirt to extinguish the fire.

Meanwhile, Zade charged for the Sith with his two blades aimed for the Sith's body. The sith turned to him and raised his heavy saber above his head and once again shouted, "Predictable!"

The Sith then lowered his arm and tossed his saber into the ground just in front of the path of Zade. Zade had to stop his charge just as the saber stuck itself into the ground right in front of him. Before Zade could make an adjustment, the Sith pointed his now freed hand towards Zade and unleashed a violet stream of Force lightning. Zade quickly raised his sabers up and harmlessly concentrated the lightning into the blades of his sabers. As the Sith continued to zap his sabers he brought his left hand over and pointed it at Zade. Launching yet another blast of fire at him.

Zade's eyes grew wide. If he made a move to dodge the fire, he'd have to lower his guard and he'd get blasted by the lightning. But if he kept his blades guarded, he'd be hit with the fire. He couldn't think about his decision. Any break in concentration and the lightning would strike past his lightsabers anyways. So his decision was made for him. He turned his head away as the fire hit him and blanketed his body.

Annoli saw this and leapt from helping Caily, "Master!"

As Zade struggled to withstand the attack, Annoli focused her hands forward towards the Sith's saber stuck into the ground. Through the Force she plucked it from the ground and flung it back at the Sith. The Sith had to stop both streams of fire and lightning so he could sidestep Annoli's throw of his own saber which missed him and continued past the Sith into the wall of fire behind him. Leaving him saberless for now.

Though the attack stopped, Zade's clothing had caught on fire. When he had the chance, Zade retreated from the Sith and leapt for cover behind one of the houses. He quickly removed his flaring robe and tossed it to the ground. His under shirt was also on fire and he had to rip it off his body and throw it away from him. Leaving him bare chested but parts of his skin were still smoking from painful burns inflicted to his body.

He had to take a quick moment to put the pain out of his mind and remember the situation he was in. Unfortunately, when his mind refocused on where he was, he realized the robe he had tossed aside had landed in a path of accelerant that had been poured onto the ground. Causing another trail of fire to ignite. At least this one led away from them and headed towards another section of houses. So he ignored this new trail and ran out from behind the house.

As this was going on, Annoli levitated her sabers back into her hands and made a move to charge at the Sith. But the Sith quickly retreated back through the wall of fire. Annoli pointed her hands forward and Force pushed the fire. Trying to blow a separation in the fire. But all she did was swirl the fire around and kicked up a billow of smoke.

Annoli coughed loudly as she accidentally inhaled some of the smoke. Zade emerged from behind the house and shouted for Annoli to back away from the fire. Annoli backed away while Zade rushed over to aid Caily. Caily shooed him away and stood up from the ground. With a painful wince she clutched her saber tightly in her good hand, "I'll be fine. It's just the fire. It blinds me."

The three backed away into the village square. Away from the fire. Zade glared at the massive fire around them. It was spreading quickly. Fighting this Sith was only wasting time. They needed to find an escape route before the entire village caught fire. But this Sith was also a problem. It had set bombs and accelerant all over the village in strategic locations. He was still out there, ready to spring his traps. Zade looked to Annoli, "He can't have this entire village booby trapped. We're just in his hot-zone. His traps must have gaps. But he won't let us find those as long as hes is still alive. Take, Caily and make a run for the outer perimeter. Hopefully I can draw his attention."

Annoli looked at his burn marks on his body and protested, "Let me. You're hurt!"

"Don't waste time!" Zade scolded, "You need to be Caily's eyes out of her. She can't do it alone!"

Caily frowned, "Insulting... But true."

Annoli reluctantly nodded, "Fine."

Zade forced a smile, "I don't plan on sacrificing myself here. So just go. Now."

Annoli nodded before Caily and she took off down back alley that lead where the fire seemed weaker around the outer perimeter. Seeing them headed off, Zade raised his sabers and stood in the village square. Near the decapitated monument. Keeping his back to the monument and his head on a swivel. Not sure where the Sith was hiding. Hopefully, he hadn't chased after Annoli and Caily. But even if he did, they could probably outrun the Sith. And the Sith probably realized that. So he'd probably focus on the stationary target.

Low and behold, a minute later after the fire continued to spread around the village, the dark figure emerged from the cloud of smoke. With his lightsaber reacquired in his right hand. He slowly walked over to Zade. Zade kept his guard up and took sidesteps away from the statue. Just in case the Sith had any booby traps set up on the statue... or inside the bodies of the burned Curakunda. The Sith just continued to slowly walk closer to Zade. When he got within earshot, the Sith shouted over the roaring of wildfire, "You Remain?... Predictable!"

Zade grit his teeth and crossed his sabers out in front of him and vented out his frustration with the Sith, "I _am_ really tired of hearing that."

The Sith cackled, "Ah-ha-hee! Such is statement is so... _predictable_."

((Author's note: It may be another minor delay until my next update. Sorry.))


	13. Chapter 13: Victim

Chapter 13: Victim

Annoli grabbed onto Caily's hand and was pulling her down an alley way. They had to hurry. The outer perimeter of the city was a wall of fire and dark smoke. They were in a dangerous position in the center of the wildfire. The oxygen in the village was being burned away and what air remained would soon be accompanied by suffocating smoke. Not to mention the fire itself.

As Annoli ran she shouted into a communicator on a wristband on her right arm. Over and over again she tried to get in contact with the Command Post but she reached only static. The Sith must have planted a communication jammer somewhere. This Sith was a master of traps. He had planned everything to perfection. Even though there wasn't any fire near their lane, they couldn't be sure if there were any bombs or unlit accelerant near by. The unlit accelerant was what worried Annoli the most. It was only a matter of time before the wildfires reached it and ignited it. And she'd have no idea where it would be coming from.

As they got further towards the outside of the village, the smoke became thicker. Annoli had to stop as she started coughing and hacking. As did Caily. The sounds of crackling fire were getting so loud the two had to shout so they could hear each other. Caily tugged Annoli on the shoulder with her good hand and shouted, "I may not be able to see but I can tell this way is death."

Annoli agreed and lead Caily back deeper into the city and away from the wild flames. When they reached a spot of slightly clearer air Annoli looked around in a panic, "I don't know. That was our best chance out of here. I wouldn't be able to see an inch in front of me if we headed into that smoke... It's just a matter of time before the smoke consumes the entire village. I just don't know."

Anoli looked back at the way they came from. Trails of accelerant had caught fire. She shook her head, "I don't even think we can head back to Zade."

"Hmm... So be it." Caily said.

Annoli shrugged her shoulders, "What can we do? We can't fight a fire like this. I'm blinded by the smoke. You're blinded by the fire. If there are any escape routes still out there, it would be impossible to find."

Caily decided, "Our options are few. We can either burn or suffocate. Or we could lock ourselves in the nearest hut and try to outlast the fire. Continue our attempts in reaching the command post."

Annoli lowered her head in defeat, "Is that all we can do?"

"Well... We could try running through the fire very, very quickly."

Annoli rolled her eyes, "Fine. Lets just go with your first idea."

They quickly scrambled into a stone and metal house. Scrambling inside and closed the door behind them. They found themselves in a kitchen type room and sat down in the center of the floor. Caily sat with her legs crossed as Annoli sat down on her knees. Caily told Annoli, "Do not fear death, Annoli." she chuckled, "Instead, fear the pain of death."

Annoli scoffed, "You are horrible at this."

Caily shrugged her shoulders, "Why do you think I've never had a padawan?"

"I can think of lots of reasons." Annoli said.

"That's the spirit." Caily said with a smile.

"What?" Annoli asked, confused.

"Now," Caily began, "I shall meditate and attempt to keep this area stable. I can't stop any fire that reaches this house but I can possibly keep smoke from entering. Wrap us up in a nice, airy bubble. You just try and get through to the command post."

Annoli nodded, "Right... Umm...?"

"Yes?"

"If the fire does reach us-"

"You want me to kill you to keep you from burning alive? Yes. I understand." Caily said with a nod.

"Pssh! No!" Annoli scoffed, "I don't care about that. I just wanted to warn you that if fire reaches us I'm leaving you behind and I'm gonna try that running very, very fast plan."

"Ah..." Caily said with an awkward smile, "I guess I would do the same thing in your situation. So be it then, girl. May the Force be with you."

-\_**V**_/-

The village center was starting to envelop in smoke. The air was still breathable for Zade but his eyes were burning. He was at a massive disadvantage. Tears ran down his face as his sabers clashed with the Sith's. They battled around the village square as the village continued to burn. This Sith was one of the most fearsome opponents Zade had ever met. He was large in size and wore a heavy tank on his back but he was somewhat graceful in his wide, powerful sweeps and strikes.

Zade couldn't even come close enough to the Sith to attack him. Whenever he came close the Sith would just swipe his saber out in front of him to back Zade away and spray his flamethrower at him. Zade tried to Force push the Sith off his feet but the Sith withstood the attack and countered with a zap of lightning that Zade was forced to retreat from. His power and cunning traps were beyond anything Zade had ever faced before. But Zade knew that everyone has a weakness.

However, he hadn't found it yet. Normally, Zade would just wait back and allow the opponent to expose their weakness to him. But he couldn't afford a moment of waited time. The moment the smoke engulfed the area, the battle would be as good as over. Zade was desperate and needed to end this now.

Zade ran back a ways to distance himself from the Sith. The Sith jogged after to close the gap. If Zade could think of one weakness, it would be the tank on his back. However, the Sith did an excellent job of keeping the tank hidden behind him. As the Sith jogged after Zade, Zade charged the Sith. Full speed. The Sith raised his left hand towards Zade and sprayed a blast of fire from his hand. Zade concentrated a massive amount of Force energy in front of him like a wedge shaped shield that blocked out much of the the fire. Some of the fire still managed to break through and burn him. But Zade continued plowing forward. Not breaking his stride.

When Zade got close enough, the Sith swiped his saber towards Zade horizontally. Zade didn't bother to block the Sith's blow. Instead he leapt over the swiping strike and over the top of the Sith's head. In the air, Zade tried to lunge one of his sabers at his head but the Sith dropped to one knee to quickly avoid Zade.

Zade landed on his feet on the ground a meter behind the Sith. The moment he landed, the Sith stood back up and ran away from Zade. Zade's momentum kept him going forward, and away form the Sith. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at the Sith. His back and tank was facing Zade but he was too far away from him to attack normally.

So Zade quickly turned around and threw one of his sabers at the Sith's back. The blade twirled end over end like a buzzsaw as it flew. For a moment Zade thought he had him. Until the Sith quickly spun around and swatted his saber out of the air with his own. Zade's saber fell to the ground just behind the Sith's feet.

Zade reached his empty hand out towards his saber and tried summoning it back into his hands, severing the Sith's feet as he did. But the Sith saw it coming and sidestepped out of the way just as Zade summoned the saber through the air. As Zade's blade became airborne, the Sith pointed his left hand towards the handle and shot a blast from his flamethrower that engulfed the entire lightsaber. The saber eventually shot from the cloud of fire and found it's way back into Zade's hand. But just as soon as Zade caught it, he winced and dropped the returned saber. The metal handle was scalding hot. The Sith laughed at him through his mask, "Ah-ha! Predictable!"

Zade was left with one saber. Worse yet, the smoke was getting thicker. Dangerously thicker. Zade inhaled a thick cloud of the smoke and began a hacking cough. Seeing this, the Sith laughed and unleashed a wave of Sith lightning at Zade. Zade reacted quickly, concentrating on the very smoke that was hampering him. He grasped onto the area of smoke and quickly twisted it around his body into a cloud of smoke so thick it was impossible for the Sith to see Zade in the center of it.

Meanwhile, the lightning struck inside the cloud. The Sith watched as the lightning rippled inside the cloud off smoke. To which the cloud flashed a brief violet color. The Sith glared into the cloud, waiting to see if Zade's dead body would drop from within the cloud. Instead, the cloud of smoke was shot out into all directions and dispersed into thin, visible patches of smoke. Zade was nowhere to be seen. He had used the cloud as a smokescreen to disappear. The Sith looked around trying to find Zade, "Ehh?"

The Sith could sense Zade's was still in the area. He hadn't fled. But he couldn't see or sense his exact location. The Sith quickly pivoted and turned around in place. Not knowing where Zade was he didn't want to leave the tank on his back exposed to any area Zade be hiding. The unknowing Sith was left lost and confused.

Meanwhile, from his hiding spot, Zade concentrated on the center of the village square. At the statue of the War Head. More specificity, the decapitated head. He locked his mind around the statue head and focused everything onto levitating it. The head started to shake and rumble in place before Zade managed to levitate it a coupe of inches off the ground. The Sith hadn't noticed this. He continued to pivot in place as he tried to find Zade.

Zade waited until the Sith pivoted his back towards the center of the village square. The moment he did, Zade unleashed everything he had and sent the head flying through the air. The Sith sensed it coming, but unlike last time, wasn't able to sense it quickly enough. He tried to get out of the way but he couldn't react fast enough and the statue slammed into the right side of his body. Sending the Sith flying and twisting to the ground.

When the Sith gathered himself, laying back down on the ground, he felt a wetness covering his right arm. He looked down and saw his arm dripping in the flammable liquid from the tank on his back. The statue had sprung a small leak in his tank. A dangerous leak that could ignite and explode at any moment. The Sith panicked and quickly began to scramble to remove his tank and helmet. Both of which were connected to each other.

Meanwhile, Zade emerged from his hiding spot, behind a nearby house, and ran over to the area. As he ran he focused on his lightsaber that was too hot to hold that was still laying, ignited on the ground. He grasped it through the Force and dragged it across the ground. Headed straight for the Sith. Who was still struggling to remove his helmet.

He wasn't fast enough. The blade of Zade's saber reached a puddle of the liquid that had pooled on the ground and ignited it. There was a puff of fire that suddenly shot around the Sith. The puff only flashed a half second before vanishing. But the liquid that covered his body all ignited and covered him in a liquid blanket of fire. He screamed and flailed around as the fire burned his right arm.

Zade thought he had him once again. But by the time Zade reached the Sith, the Sith had manged to pull himself back to his feet. His body was still on fire, but he stood and faced Zade nonetheless. Now holding his lightsaber in his left, unburned hand. Zade couldn't believe it. This Sith knew no pain. His right arm was completely scorching but it barley phased him. He just switched hands and was ready to fight again.

Zade had hoped that when he ignited the tank on his back, it would cause an explosion. But the leak in the tank was too big and too much of the liquid was released. When too much liquid escaped from the tank, it lost all of the pressure built up in the tank. Resulting in a flash of fire, instead of the small explosion Zade was hoping for.

Even so, Zade thought the flash fire would have done more damage to the Sith. But the thick rubber-like skirting the Sith wore protected his body from the fire. Ironically, the same helmet that the Sith was trying so hard to remove ended up protecting his head. After all that, Zade had only manged to damage the Sith's arm. Though he did destroy a mighty weapon in the Sith's flamethrower in doing so.

The Sith looked over to Zade and laughed, "Unpredictable... but fruitless!"

Zade scowled and coughed as he continued to inhale smoke. The smoke had gotten so bad that even the nearest houses were being lost in sight and swallowed up by the thick coating of smoke. Every breath Zade took, he was inhaling a dangerous amount of it. Time was up. Perhaps he wasted too much time trying to target the tank.

Zade imagined he only had another minute or two of breathable air. If he could slay the Sith within that time, he could buy maybe five more minutes if he fell into a deep meditation to calm his lungs. Either way, there was no feasible means of escaping his fate. Zade accepted that. His only goal with a chance of accomplishment at this point was to take this horrible monster down with him.

The Sith had no plans on letting Zade succeed though. He had survived Zade's last, desperate attack. He still stood ready for more. With his mask, he was immune to the smoke. Zade was coughing every other second. The Sith knew he had Zade beat. He laughed and raised his good hand at Zade. From his fingers tips, he shot another blast of lightning. This lighting shot forth. The violet flash of lightning reflected off the smokey cloud around them and made the entire area glow a violent, violet color.

Zade raised his one remaining saber up to concentrate the lightning and defuse it into the blade. It was working at first. But with every cough, he lost concentration and he came closer to losing it. He tired to split his concentration. Half blocking the Sith's attack and half relaxing and calming his wild lungs. But as it continued, the smoke became too thick to handle. Zade was hacking and gasping for air. With one last ditch effort. Zade pushed out and defused that last of the lightning. Zade dropped to the ground coughing and gasping for air.

Seeing him beaten, the Sith stopped his lightning. The violet light left and the area returned to it's normal, smoke covered colors. The Sith was too weak to continue any more of the lightning. He was badly burned and his energy was sapped from his body. This was a first for him. Never had he been weakened to this point.

The Sith walked over to Zade and watched him slowly suffocate. The Sith thought about just standing aside and watch Zade suffocate to death, but Zade was not to be underestimated. Even as he was dying, the Sith feared Zade could pull off one last trick. So he readied himself to deal a final deathblow to Zade. The Sith clutched his lightsaber handle tightly in his hand as he looked down at Zade.

Zade looked up at the Sith, barley able to catch a single breath. As he looked up he thought he was hallucinating. Perhaps the lack of air was making him dizzy and seeing things. But when he looked again he realized it wasn't a hallucination. The smokey haze in the sky began to shift and swirl as if something large was pushing it aside. Then beams of light pierced its way through the smoke and lit up the surrounding area. Through the illuminated smoke Zade saw a large object break through the smoke. The body of the Snap-Axel hovered above them as the sound of a humming engine filled the area.

The Sith turned away from Zade a moment to look up at the ship. The moment he did, a black figure fell from the Axel. Streaking through the smoke and landed on it's feet a few meters away from the Sith. Zade's eyes got wide when he realized it was Laan clad in his usual armored robes. He was also wearing a black breathing mask wrapped around his face. The Sith took a step towards Laan and raised his hand up to him to zap him. As he did he told Laan, "Hmm... Unpredictable..."

Laan looked over to Zade as he hacked for air. There was no time to waist. The moment the Sith sent out his charge of Force lightning, Laan extended his hand and refocused the lightning into the palm of his hand where it fizzled away into nothing. The Sith was to tired and weak to hit Laan with anything of substance. He may as well have shot him with a child's firework toy. The only reason the Sith was still standing and Zade was on the ground was the smoke. A obstacle unavoidable to Zade.

Laan countered the Sith by extending his left hand towards him. Laan glared at the Sith and snarled his upper lip under his breathing mask. Focusing on the Sith's helmet, he wrapped large, imaginary fingers around the neck and squeezed. The metal neck of the helmet began to buckle and the Sith began to panic. Grasping at the neck of his helmet trying to pull off the imaginary fingers. The Sith had no power or energy left to stop this.

With the Sith distracted, Laan took his right hand reached for his belt. He unclasped an object from his belt and quickly tossed it at Zade as Zade sat down on his knees. The object hit the ground in front of him. He looked down and smiled with relief as he saw the object that Laan tossed him was a breathing mask. He quickly grabbed it and slid it over his face. He was still hacking the smoke from his lungs but at least clean air was replacing it.

Meanwhile, Laan didn't release the grasp around the Sith's helmet as it continued to buckle to the point where the metal wrapped around the Sith's neck. Laan's arm began to shake with the urge to collapse the entire helmet around his head... crushing his skull with it... but Laan quickly thought twice. Instead of choking him to death, he only continued to choke him as a distraction away from Zade.

Now that Zade had his mask, Laan no longer needed this distraction. He took his right hand and reached for his favorite lightsaber. He ignited the blade and raised it over his head. Bringing it down and tossing it blade first like a javelin. The blade pierced through the center of the helmet. Dealing a quick deathblow.

Laan released his grip on the Sith's neck and let his body drop to ground with a thud. Laan quickly ran over to Zade as he continued his hacking cough on his hands and knees. Laan bent down on one knee and placed a friendly hand on his back, "Hey. Are you alright?"

Zade kept coughing but gave Laan a thumbs up to indicate he'd be fine. Eventually. Laan quickly chuckled under his mask and told Zade, "Alright. I know what your thinking. You don't have to ask. Annoli and Caily are safe in the Axel..."

Zade found a gap in between coughs and looked over to Laan, "...Thanks..."

((Note: Sorry this update took longer... again. I'm going to try really hard to get the next update in by regular time.))


	14. Chapter 14: Insubordinate

Chapter 14: Insubordinate

Inside the command post I had summoned those of my team that were still able to participative into a meeting. After everything that had happened in the past few days, we needed a new plan. And we needed to do it fast. My vision of warning was starting to look like the real thing.

The fire from my vision seemed to represent the pyro-Sith. The three scorched bodies must have been Zade, Annoli, and Caily. If it wasn't for us arriving to the burning village in the Axel, not a second later, they would have all been caught in the fire. Thankfully, when Lwyn told me that they were headed to an abandoned village, I felt a disturbance in the Force. After that I called Vayne and the Axel back and we headed to the village. Only to find a massive billow of smoke and Annoli's voice just barley able to get in contact with us through the ships' com-unit. Everything just seemed to fall into line for us perfectly and we avoided a terrible tragedy for our side. Force be with us, I suppose.

That was the past though. This was the present. Lwyn, Vayne, Annoli, Xelka, Rollo, myself, as well as Regendie and Biderek, who both represented a small army of their respective groups, all joined in the command center. I leaned forward against the holo-player that was mounted to the center of the floor and sighed. I told them straight up, "Well, well... We're getting lambasted. Plain and simple."

"How is Zade doing?" Annoli asked.

"He'll be fine in time." Lwyn answered, "He suffered burns which were thankfully, not severe. The biggest concern was the amount of smoke he had inhaled. But we got to him in time. But even for a Jedi, he needs rest."

"So he's out of commission for a couple of days." I told them before I began to list, "Zade is recovering. Rento is recovering from being shot. Caily is recovering from the burn on her hand which _is_ a severe burn. HotShot and Jax are both recovering back at the Camp... And there was Lou's passing. Ever since we took this base we've suffered nothing but losses. With the exception of Lou, we are fortunate our personal losses were so few and that they've survived their encounters."

I looked over to Regendie and asked him, "You have an update about the pyro and the village?"

Regendie somberly shook his head, "Yes... I'm sad to report we found the missing villagers. No survivors. We found their bodies a couple of miles away from the village. Dumped into a ravine. The fire has consumed the entire village and surrounding woodlands. Ironically, the fact that most of the woods have died off into nothingness, meant the fire couldn't spread any further than that."

There was an unsettling and sad moment of silence. Regendie then asked me, "What were you able to find out more about that Sith?"

"Well... not as much as we would have liked. We found his ship but by the time we arrived it was a burning mass of metal. The Sith must have had some kind of self-destruction system installed that destroyed his ship in case he was killed or captured. Any information we could have found in or about that ship was burned away. But we do know the ship was large enough to carry hundreds, maybe thousands of barrels of accelerant."

"Speaking of the accelerant," Lwyn spoke up, "It was about the only thing we could figure out. It's a unique liquid called Fah'trokk. Its a nearly invisible, low-scented accelerant, which is why such a massive amount smelled so faint. Smelling as if there were a few heavy machines in the area, and not hundreds of gallons of liquid. It can stay flammable in open air for hours. Nearly a day. Many assassin's use it around the galaxy."

"So the Sith somehow lured the residents out of the village, killed them, and set up one massive trap knowing someone would be coming to the village eventually?" Vayne asked, disgusted.

"Not just somebody." I told him, "The Sith killed the Curakunda scouting party without springing his trap. He wanted to wait until a bigger game came along."

"So.. _us_, then." Annoli said to herself.

I compassionately looked over to Regndie and Biderek, "Look, I brought this party together. I escalated this war. In response to that, the Sith did this. I'm sorry this happened. I got a lot of people involved and up until now, everyone had been willing to sacrifice themselves for the battle. But now a village worth of innocents have been killed. I truly am sorry."

Regendie folded his arms over his chest and gave me a respective nod of the head, "I will be honest, there are a few Curakunda that have taken this as further evidence that outsiders are not to be trusted. But they are stubborn folk that look for any reason to put blame on outsiders. They refuse to accept that an outsider could be a superior warrior or tactician than they. Most however, feel this tragedy was only proof that we have finally made progress against the Sith. That they are finally threatened by us. The cornered animals expose their fangs more than anything else."

I smiled at his response, "Good. Glad you said that. Because I'm pretty sick and tired of playing the defensive. I'm an all-and-out kind of guy. So I say we take our able bodied forces and continue our advancement towards Wreenot."

I leaned away from the holo-player as Lwyn turned the lights off and switched the holo-vid on. A holo-map of the area flickered on. Displaying an overhead view of the area. The map showed our current location, the command post, all the way to the target city of Wreenot. And every area in between.

On the map I had highlighted a number of enemy bases in a yellow, blipping lights. And there were nearly two dozen blips on there. Some small and insignificant. Others more important. One base however I had highlighted in a red blip. It was approximately halfway in between this base and Wreenot. I pointed it out to everyone, "This right here is our next target. A lab. According to Biderek and his scouts, this is a massive laboratory. Used for all kinds of sick experiments. Including the creation of the Aeronauts. The genetically altered Turr'shek with wings. Who knows what else they've got going on in there."

Xelka had a disgusted look on her face, "We're probably going to be seeing some pretty sick stuff. Aren't we?"

"Most likely." I told her, "But that's one of the reasons this is our target. One; we can put an end to this lab's sick operations. I'm sure they have other labs out there but at least we can stop one of them. Two; the lab would be a great foothold on our way to Wreenot. It's big and it's got a number of great defenses so when we capture it, we can hold it."

"What kind of defenses?" Rollo asked.

"Well, much like the weapon's plant we took out, most of the the lab is built into the side of a mountain. So it has natural defenses. In addition to that there are a handful of armed watchtowers. Those will be a challenge during our invasion. That's about it. It may not sound like much, but the layout of the area will provide great protection. "

"Another thing I noticed is the distance from here to there." Rollo added, "We have a long ways to go and lots of enemy territory to pass through."

I nodded, "Agreed. Which is why we're going to have to do a joint, all-out assault against them. While the invasion team advances towards the lab in the Axel, a number of armed forces will hit the smaller bases along the way. Keeping them distracted and clearing a pathway to the lab for future advancement. That is assuming the War Head agrees."

"And by armed forces, you mean Curakunda, human colonists, and Biderek's troops?" Regendie asked.

"Well... yeah." I said awkwardly. I wasn't sure how he was going to take to being the secondary forces in the mission.

Thankfully, he nodded his approval, "Very well. I'll send a message to the War Head right away."

"Thank you." I told him before addressing everyone, "So if the plan is agreed to, Lwyn, Vayne, Annoli, and myself will take the Axel and proceed to the lab where we'll storm in and take it. Xelka, Rollo, you'll both be lending your talents to the Curakudna army. Simple as that."

Rollo looked at me with an irritated furrow of the forehead, "That's is? What about me?"

"You'll accompany one of the Curakunda teams." I repeated. Though, I sensed he had plenty more to say.

He crossed his arms over his chest and faced me with aggressive body language, "So what? Since I'm not part of your little 'Force-power' club I get pushed aside?"

I glared back at him, "Listen here, war hero. I don't know whats gotten into you as of late but you had better soldier up and take your orders."

"I shouldn't be taking order from you!" He barked, "I should be taking orders from Lou!"

"Hey!" Vayne barked over to him, "Rollo, settle down. This is a joint operation here."

"No it isn't!" He pointed at me, "We're all following this lunatic, Force-freak."

Vayne looked absolutely stunned, "What is this, Rollo? Where is this coming from?"

Xelka glared over at him, "You have a problem with Force-users, snot-rag?"

I interrupted before Rollo could respond with a little heat behind my words, "Hey, _junior_. I'll say it again, I'm sorry about Lou. But just because your mentor died, doesn't give you the excuse to throw a child's tantrum. If you don't like your orders and can go back to the Camp and sit on your hands for all I care. The only reason you are here, is by the suggestion of the Chancellor. He wanted to promote you for your past work. But you're not mentally tough enough. I'm sure I can speak for the War Head when I say we don't want a headcase on the battlefield with us. You're going to get someone else killed."

Rollo lowered his head and steamed off in silence. I was about to continue with the planning when he raised his head and told me, "I'm... sorry. I got overwhelmed."

"Right..." I said in a calm but stern manner, "It remains to be seen how you can mentally proceed. But you're sitting this one out. Sitting out on the invasion team and sitting out on the Curakunda teams. Got it?"

He reluctantly nodded, "Understood."

"Good." iIpointed towards the door, "You can leave for now."

Without another word spoken he sulked out of the room. When he was gone, Vayne shook his head, "Geez. Something's gotten into that kid. I don't know what's going on, but he's like a different person now."

"He's a hothead." Xelka said.

"Kid's got some trust to regain." Lwyn added.

Biderek chirped something to which Regendie translated, "He said that if an insubordinate soldier talked back to him, he'd send them into a two week trek up a mountain."

I nodded in agreement with a slight smirk on my face, "Well... Maybe that's not such a bad idea."

Without further distractions we continued on with the battle plan. Together we decided on a blueprint of the plan to present to the War Head. Regendie assured us that he believed the War Head would accept the plan. My team, may have been the focal point of the plan but the Curakunda would have the toughest jobs. They wouldn't have the benefit of the Axel to travel with and there battles were likely to be much more drastic and larger scaled than ours. Regendie seemed almost pleased by that fact. The Curakunda wanted to see more action against the Sith. Hey, if they want to fight some Sith, who am I to stand in there way? Right?

-\_**V**_/-

Ordan rubbed the temples of his forehead as he stood in his command room along with his hand-picked officer. He got word that Carnivis wanted yet another word with him. Couldn't that overgrown cat go a even a single day without getting in his business?

The lights dimmed and the holo-vid switched on. Revealing a holo-image of Carnivis. And he didn't look very happy. As usual. Ordan sighed, "Yes?"

Carnivis flashed his fangs at Ordan before asking him, "Are you aware of what happened?"

Ordan smirked and sarcastically asked, "Could you be a tad more specific?"

"The two under-levels I sent there!" He howled, "I haven't heard back from them in over a day!"

Ordan shrugged his shoulders, "So? It's a day. Is that really so worrisome?"

Carnivis pointed at him through the holo-player, "They know not to go a day without reporting to me. Not the way I trained them!"

"Well then, I guess they've either been killed, captured, or perhaps, they just disobeyed you and went a day without reporting. So.. I guess that means, one way or another, you didn't train them well enough."

"My training is flawless!" He spat.

"Is that why you're just the Lord's apprentice...?" Ordan asked under his breath.

Carnivis was taken aback by Ordan's comment, "...What was that?"

Ordan looked at Carnivis as if it was obvious, "I'm just saying. How well could the training be? The apprentice of an apprentice? It's like being the infant to a child."

All of the skin of Carnivis' face wrinkled back into a furious glare, "The training is not the issue! Clearly they were outmatched. No amount of training can make up for a lack of power."

Ordan wanted to ask just whose fault that was, but decided to keep that comment to himself. Instead he once again shrugged his shoulders, "So they're probably dead. So what? Are you going to send an army of acolytes next? A new batch of Sith-flunkies? Or perhaps, now go along me with on this, leave it the hell alone and let me go on with my work and stop interrupting me every single day?"

Carnivs was clearly not used to this level of insubordination. He was so stunned that he actually stammered, "C-Can you really be this big of an idiot, Drust?"

Ordan innocently shrugged his shoulders, "Guess so?"

Carnivs actually got a faint smile on his face, "Well listen closely... I'm coming there to personally make sure the project is successful. Whoever is responsible for getting in our way with die! You can be expecting me in a few days."

Ordan mockingly smiled, "Oh, yippee! I'll be sure to lay out a fresh banquette spread and draw you a bath upon your arrival, sir!"

Beofre Carnivis could respond, Ordan reached over to the holo-player and slapped a button. Ending the transmission. Carnivis' image flickered away into nothingness as the lights brightened. Ordan rolled his head back and let out an annoyed groan, "How has the Lord not killed that stupid cat yet?"

The officer furrowed his forehead with concern, "... S-sir... Erm, Ordan... You are aware he is going to kill you when he arrives here?"

Ordan stood up straight as if nothing had happened, "Clearly. I've poked his ego. Now he wants me dead."

"Well... Do you still think the Sith are worth dying over?" He asked.

Ordan looked at him, emotionless, "Hmph... Just get back to work and leave me alone."

The officer nodded and left the room. Leaving Ordan alone in the room. Standing alone in the room he thought to himself. Plotting the best course of action. Well.. that would probably be shooting Carnivis' ship out of the air before it even lands. But Carnivis would undoubtedly be coming in a war ship. Not easy to shoot down. Not by himself. He could try slaying Carnivis personally but he'd never stand a chance with an entire army backing Carnivis. Or, Ordan could just stand there and let Carnivis kill him for "the greater progress of the Sith". Yeah right. Like the Sith were better off with Carnivis in his current position.

The only reason Ordan was 'loyal' to the Sith was because they raised him, more like trained him, from childhood. One of the Force-sensitive children ripped away from his family and shoved into a Sith academy. He always showed great skill to the Sith. But his carefree attitude would continuously keep him down in the eyes of the Sith. Time and time again, the Sith would try to send someone stronger to face Ordan and knock him off. But time and time again, Ordan would come out on top. Only further proving his powers to the Sith. After years of this, they were finally impressed with him enough to send him to this backwater planet. Where the Sith could use Ordan's powers, and keep him out of there hair at the same time. That was until this new group appeared and spread chaos across Sith's plans. Ordan couldn't help but be amused by how much hassle they've proven to the Sith. Namely, Carnivis.

The more Ordan thought to himself, he came to a realization. The Sith ripped him from his family to train him. But he was never really accepted as a Sith. Maybe he didn't care enough to make an effort though.

Growing up he was told to live and die for the Sith and he went along with it. Mainly, because he just didn't care enough to dispute it. He didn't resent the Sith for taking him away from his family. Because he didn't care. As he imagined the Sith winning this war and taking control over the galaxy, he didn't care.

He didn't care about the Sith. He just went along with them. Now that they wanted him dead. Why stick around? There was no purpose to it anymore. However, he knew he cared about one thing. Carnivis. He wanted to see that feline skinned alive.


	15. Chapter 15: Ordan

Chapter 15: Ordan

The War Head agreed with my plans and we went ahead with the operation. Because they had to travel on foot the Curakunda, Biderek's allies, and Human colonists lead by Sanpak and Xelka all advanced a half day earlier. Each headed to designated bases along a path headed towards the targeted laboratory. Their jobs were to cause a distraction and secure a path for future travels.

Meanwhile, Vayne, Annoli, Lwyn, and I took the Axel over the land. Headed straight for the lab to attack it directly. I let Vayne pilot the ship while I controlled the front turret. We took out any enemies we came across as we passed by overhead.

Eventually, we reached the laboratory. From my point in the gunner's seat I saw a metal structure in the face of a rocky mountain. Somewhat unexpected, were two watchtowers. The towers themselves weren't unexpected. What was unexpected was that there was nothing in or even around those towers. They were unmanned.

Landing the ship was an easy process. Very easy. Vayne planted the ship just meters from the entry way doors. Doors which weren't even locked. Inside the laboratory we were ready for war. But found none. Inside we found an empty entryway. The insides of the lab were dimly lit. I was expecting decor something white and sterile. But it was industrial and dirty. It was less laboratory and more mad scientist's dungeon.

The four of us continued further into the labs. Unopposed by anyone. Not far inside and we came into a sort of fork in the road. We were faced with an area with two paths. One headed left. One headed right. We then decided to split up. Buddies Lwyn and Vayne went left. While I took the role of temporary Jedi Master and took padawan Annoli under my wing and headed right.

-\_**V**_/-

Lwyn and Vayne tiptoed through a dank and dingy hallway. It smelled like death. There were no lights in the hallways. The only lighting came from plate glass windows in the right wall of the hallway. On the opposite end of the window were small rooms. Most of these rooms had lights on. Showing the details of the rooms.

One room they passed they saw a metal surgical table with bloodstains around the floor and various, horrid looking surgical tools set in a box on the floor. Lwyn rolled her eyes into the back of her head and groaned, "Ugh. We are probably breathing in the stench of countless, decaying corpses."

Vayne was trying to breath as little as possible. With every foot step he made, his boots would stick briefly to the floor. He winced, "I have no idea what makes this floor so sticky aaand I don't wanna know."

Lwyn reached another window and sneaked a peak inside the window before passing by. In case someone was in the room she didn't want to be spotted. But when she looked inside she saw only another surgery table with a decaying blob on the ground covered in dried blood. A blob that could very well be a severed limb of something. Most likely a unlucky Turr'shek test subject.

It was extremely odd that they had yet to find anyone inside this base. Lwyn wasn't sure if Laan and Annoli had found anyone yet, but something seemed very off.

They progressed further down the hallway. The end came in sight in the form of a large curve into a ending doorway. A moment later they heard the sounds of other life. The sound of electrical instruments running and screaming. Multiple tools. One sounded like a saw and the other sounded like a vacuum. Maybe a couple of other, unknown instruments as well.

Lwyn and Vayne instantly went silent and proceeded down the hall with quite feet. Lightsabers off to silent their humming blades. But fingers resting on the button just in case it was called for. Keeping their minds open and aware for danger.

They reached the end of the hallway and squatted down at the threshold. Pass the hallway there was a large, multi-storied room. The hallways Vayne and Lwyn were squatting at, exited onto a catwalk on the third story. The highest story of the room.

At the bottom was another surgery table. This table being bigger and had many strange devices attached to it and tubes running into it. It also had a dead Turr'shek subject laying on top of it. Standing around the table were five people and a droid. Humans dressed in black lab coats and gray surgical masks. One of them had a saw, cutting off a piece of machinery that protruded from the corpses' side while another one sucked up any excess liquid that spilled from it's body with a vacuum hose. Lwyn held back vomit, "Urp... Disgusting."

Vayne pointed to pieces of machinery that was actually infused into the corpse. The very machinery they were trying to cut out of it. He whispered to Lwyn, "Are they trying to combine the Turr'shek with actual machinery?"

Lwyn nodded and whispered back, "Appears so. I have no idea what types of machinery it is either. It looks like they failed this time."

Vayne raised his lightsaber handle and glared down at them, "This is horrible. I say we end this."

Lwyn nodded, "Agreed."

They both ignited their lightsabers and leapt off the top catwalk. Landing on the floor below and striking the unsuspecting scientists. Quickly and surly putting an end to this horrible science experiment.

-\_**V**_/-

The path Annoli and I took was a short one. A short, confusing path that sent shivers down my spine. The mystery of why we hadn't seen anyone was gone when we saw bodies of Turr'shek and a couple of Sith soldiers with a hole in their bodies. Undoubtedly a lightsaber wound. So one mystery was replaced by another. Who killed everyone in the lab? But even that mystery solved itself quickly.

When we reached the end of the hallway we were faced with a truly unexpected sight. A command room with a half dozens rows of countless computers. Including a giant mainframe that hung from the ceiling and hundreds of wires that ran up the walls and into the main frame.

The entire decor was black and gray. From the walls to the chairs. It was all black or gray. The walls, ceiling, floors, and mainframe also had trimmings of a light blue, glowing light.

What was so surprising wasn't the room itself. It was what sat before us near the entryway door that shocked Annoli and I. Laying at the threshold of the doorway was a dual bladed lightsaber handle. It was off. Kneeling with one knee on the floor and eyes closed in meditation was Ordan Drust.

Instinctively, Annoli and I ignited our saber blades. Ordan quickly raised his head and looked at us. I pointed my blade at him, "Drust? Another step ahead of us?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "In a way. Yes. But I'm not here to fight you."

Annoli doubtfully and sarcastically told him, "Oh yeah. Oh course not. You're obviously here to surrender."

He smiled at her, "Quite right actually."

Annoli was taken aback by what he said. I was too but I didn't dwell on it. I just acted. No matter what he said, his lightsaber was in the open and away from his body. Perhaps it was symbolically placed there to show us he was surrendering. Or just there to lull us into a false sense of security. Either way, I levitated the blade into my free hand. Holding it and keeping it to myself. But keeping in mind that his lightsaber wasn't the only weapon he had. So I spoke to him in a cautious tone, "So uhh... yeah. You're surrendering now?"

"Yes." He said simply.

Annoli glared at him, "Do you think we're idiots?"

"No." He told us, "If I did I would take my chances with Carnivis."

"Carnivis?" I asked loudly, "What about him?"

"He's coming here and he wants me dead. And you dead. All of us, really. He's not a likeable person." He said taking a serious situation lightly.

I glared at him, "Tell me more."

Annoli groaned at my comment, "I dunno, Laan. I don't like this. I don't know if we can talk to him. He did kill Lou after all."

Ordan frowned, "I can't say I'm sorry about that. He did attack me after all. But I am regretful things went down the way they did and my side is still killing me from where the female stabbed me. If that counts for anything."

"It doesn't." She told him, "It really doesn't. I don't trust you. You're always one step ahead of us. You're too sneaky."

He motioned his hands to the area around him, "I'm here now. No weapon. And I've slain everyone in this laboratory except for a bunch of scientists. You got to me before I could get them. I have nothing right now."

"You'd like us to think that. It's not beyond a Sith to kill their own people to further their plan. In fact, it's quite common. A plan to catch us off guard." Annoli told him.

"Please," I told the both of them, "Just tell me about Carnivis? Why would the second in command of the Sith show his face on a manufacturing planet?" A thought hit me, "Unless..."

Ordan picked up on my suspicions and filled in the blanks, "They are manufacturing something of importance here?"

"Yeah... You know what it is?" I said.

He nodded, "That I do. I was brought onto this planet after the failings of my predecessor. He failed to properly motivate the Turr'shek on this project. So they sent me here as punishment. Because nobody really wants to be here. I was doing just fine until you came along. Causing havoc across the planet. You made Carnivis very, very paranoid. I wasn't able to deal with you so he's coming here himself."

"To kill you just like your predecessor?" Annoli asked.

"Yes." He said with a cocky grin, "And it didn't help my cause that I argued with him countless numbers of times."

The wheels in my head started to turn. I thought out loud, "That Sith... the one that hurt HotShot and Jax was Togorian. Just like Carnivis."

"I am unaware of that." He told me, "However, I am aware that Carnivis did send two of his hand chosen pupils here to take care of you. He didn't think I was capable of it. Which... I suppose he was right about. I'm guessing that's what you are speaking of."

"The cat and the pyro?" Annoli asked.

"Must be." I said.

"Laan..." Annoli's voice cracked, "C'mon. I don't like your tone. Are you considering this maniac's words?"

I though back to my vision I had. The scene of the Sith, one half appeared to be Ordan and the other half appeared to be Togorian. Like Carnivis or his pupil. The Sith in my vision battled me at first, but Ordan's half stopped and ended up ripping itself apart. The vision seemed rather obvious but I was still very weary of Ordan. I asked him, "Just tell me. What is the project?"

Ordan looked to me and warned me, "I'm moving my hand. I'm not reaching for a weapon. Just a remote."

He reached into a pocket inside his robe and removed a small remote. With a press of a button, a holo-player on the bottom of the mainframe turned on and projected a holo-image down behind Ordan. The image was instantly recognizable. The tower-ship of destruction. The massive ship that lead the invasion against Coruscant two years ago. The Risa'griez Citadel.

The ship that haunted me. Two years ago I had the opportunity to destroy it. I damaged it, but I did not destroy it. I messed up. Suddenly, I felt a second chance stood right before me. My jaw dropped slightly at the image of the Citadel, "Risa'griez..."

"You know it then? You know what it means to the Sith?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's here?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded, "Yes. It was brought here for repairs after the failed invasion of Coruscant. The entire core system was hacked into and caused nearly every function of the ship to seize and lock up. It's been a couple of years and they are still working on it. It's almost as if we've been having to rebuild it all over again."

I stood there in silence as I thought to myself. Meanwhile, Annoli was fidgeting in place, "This is so strange. He is a Sith!"

"Was." He corrected, "Carnivis wants me dead. As far as I'm concerned, that ousts me from their ranks."

"It's not about what concerns _you_. It about what concerns _us_." She told him.

He nodded his head in agreement, "That is... quite true."

I groaned and rolled my eyes, "Dammit."

"What?" Annoli asked me.

I shook my head in disbelief, "I think I believe him."

"What?" She protested, "C'mon! This is too suspicious! He-is-a-Sith!"

"At one point I was too. So was Lwyn and so was Vayne." I told her, "Our only options are to accept his surrender and capture him. Or we kill him. Do you really want to kill a surrendering man?"

She sighed, "No... But I'm not convinced he really is surrendering."

"What he says makes sense though." I told her, "It all corresponds to my vision."

"Vision?" Annoli asked.

"Intriguing." Ordan commented.

"I've decided." I told them as I pointed my unignited saber blade at him, "In the name of the Swyren, you're under my arrest. You do anything stupid and I'll stab you in the heart. Don't test me."

((Note: Sorry it took so long for this update and sorry it was so very, very short and rushed and... not that great.. Well... due to some family issues going on in my life right now its kind of absorbed a lot of my time and energy and motivation. So my updates may be a bit sporadic for a while. But I have an interesting idea in mind for the near future of this story and I hope you stick with me on this. I just need to lessen the filler habit I've fallen into and get my mind right. Sorry again.))


	16. Chapter 16: Insurrection

Chapter 16: Insurrection

The capitol city of Wreenot was buzzing with energy. Sith and Turr'shek alike gazed upwards into the skies as a large warship hovered above their city. Blocking out the sun. From the bottom of the warhsip, a hanger door opened.

A transport ship flew out. Heading for a landing pad on the west wing of the large, Ch'godo Tower. Waiting patiently for the transport to land was a band of Sith officers. Including the one that Ordan often communicated with.

When the transport landed on the pad, a ramp slid out from the back. The officers gazed into the black hole inside the ship's open doorway. Standing at attention. Then a massive feline-like figure clad in black hurried down the ramp. Darth Carnivis.

He wasted no time in walking over to and meeting with the officers. He pointed a clawed finger at the nearest officer, "Where is Drust?"

The officer's eye went cross eyed as he started at the pointing claw, "M-My Lord, It appears that Ordan ha-has deserted."

Carnivis lowered his hand and hissed, "Coward. Hmph, Expected. What of the project?"

Another officer replied, "The Citadel is ahead of schedule, Lord."

Carnivis snarled at them and ordered, "Take me there. Now!"

-\_**V**_/-

The laboratory was in an uproar. Some of the armed forces had arrived in the recently captured laboratory. Which had become our nearest foothold to the city of Wreenot. The likes of Sanpak, Biderek, their soldiers, and especially Rollo were shouting at me in protest. Standing behind me was the subject of protest. Ordan Drust with his hands bound in binders behind his back. Standing with me on my side was Lwyn, Xelka, Annoli, and the semi-recovered Zade and Caily who had joined us in the lab.

We were a large room in the basement level of the lab. I had gathered everyone here for a meeting and tell them about Ordan. I knew there would be protests and I hoped we could have a reasonable discussion over the matter. But I was an idiot. Gather a number of people into one room and throw in a hot button issue and you've got a near riot. One opinion gets thrown out there and they all feed off of it.

The side that supported me in keeping Ordan a prisoner just stood there calmly and let the other side vent their complaints. Rollo was the most vocal against us. He got face to face with me and shouted in my face while reaching over my shoulder and pointing back at Ordan, "He killed Lou. He is a Sith. A murdering scumbag! Anyone that sides with him is no better!"

I took a step back from Rollo and remained calm, "I know, I know, Rollo. You had a lot of respect for Lou. So did I-"

"No you didn't! You couldn't have if this is how you act." He looked over my shoulder to Ordan and shouted at him, "Murderer! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ordan shrugged his shoulders, "Unfortunately, nothing that wouldn't either escalate your anger or be a complete lie."

"Whats that?" He demanded.

"This Lou died because he shot at me first." Ordan told him.

"Because you're a filthy Sith. You should be executed!" Rollo yelled.

Rollo's side cheered at the mention of an execution. Sanpak, the leader of the human colonists roared her agreement, "Kill him! His Sith had either enslaved or killed any of our people that stood against them. Don't forget the village that was just recently burned to the ground. Every Curakunda in the village was slain!"

Ordan winced, "Well, actually I had nothing to do with that village. Really the enslavement and murdering was done by my predecessor. But no excuses for what I have done to bloody my hands. I apologize for what _I've _done. But I can't apologize for that which I did not do."

Sanpak barked at him, "Don't bother explaining, Sith. Nothing you say can be trusted."

"That's not exactly true." Zade told her in a calm tone, "He told us Darth Carnivis is coming here. In fact, he is probably already here. So to is a massive weapon called the Risa'griez Citadel. He's provided us with information to confirm his claims. If you don't trust the words of Ordan, please listen to me. Anything you've ever experienced on this planet will pale in comparison to what Carnivis can and will do. We need all the help we can gather."

There was a small burst of loud shouts of protests from human colonists and Curakunda warriors in response to Zade. Then the doors to the lab opened and Regendie, Vayne, and the other half of the Twi'twins, Rento came walking in. Rento was still injured from being shot and walked with a thick wrap under his shirt and a limp in his walk.

The room went silent and all turned to face Regendie. He left with Vayne to get in contact with the War Head and discuss Ordan and the threat of Carnivis. Now that he had returned, hopefully he'd have something to say to defuse the situation. One way or the other.

Regendie looked around the room before telling everyone, "I've returned from speaking with the War Head. He has been made aware the Sith's capture and the Darth's arrival to our planet. Since the captive has already provided us with invaluable information, the War Head believes it is in our best interest to keep him prisoner." There was another loud burst of protest but Regendie barked over them all, "This is the War Head's command! The captive will be under the watch of a Jedi or Swyren Force-user at all times."

"This is ridiculous!" Sanpak shouted.

Regendie pushed his way through the crowd and yelled at her, "Anyone that has a problem with the War Head's decision can pack up there gear and head back to the Camp! On foot. You can stay on guard patrol."

Sanpak turned back and shot a glance at Ordan, "So be it. I'd rather be stuck doing guard work than stay around here and expose my back to him for him to stab me in it."

Sanpak and a handful of her troops turned and walked out. A great number of Curakunda followed after her. Regendie looked over to Biderek and asked him where he stood. Biderek stomped his foot down and stood put. He was loyal to the War Head. In the end, a third of the group had left. Leaving all of Biderek's troop, slightly less than half the Curakunda, and almost all of the human colonists.

Rollo was so enraged his body clenched and trembled. Nothing I could say to him was going to ease his hatred. His mind was already made up. He was beyond trust at this point. I glared at him, "Rollo. You're too unstable. I want you to give me your blaster and head back to the Camp with them. Your duty here is over."

He raised his eyes to meet mine, "You-"

"Enough!" I then repeated, "Your duty here is over!"

Vayne walked over to Rollo and placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's over, man. Just go."

Rollo slapped his hand away and turned his back to us. Leaving without another word. Vayne and I exchanged glances. I told him, "I have a bad feeling about that kid. He's not going to end this quietly."

Vayne curled his upper lip, "I think the kid's just a little confused. Let's give him the day it'll take to walk back to the Camp to think it over. We can talk to him them."

"Maybe. I just wish Rasch would have picked a better soldier than him to send along."

Regendie dismissed those that remained for the time being. Let them scatter around the lab and give them time to cool down their tempers. He then walked over to us and stared at Ordan while asking me, "You're sure this is a good idea?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "This is war. There are no good ideas. The closet thing to a good idea is getting the most accomplished with the least amount of causalities."

"Are you sure you're not a Jedi?" Annoli asked me, "That sure sounded like some Jedi wisdom to me. You know, where you point out the obvious but sound smart for doing so."

I grinned and shot Zade a glance as I replied to her, "Come now. What Jedi would do a thing like that?"

Zade raised an eyebrow, "Me?"

I shook my head innocently, "No. Of course not."

Regendie looked away from Ordan and looked at me, "The War Head is concerned about the Darth. He wants to continue the attack while we still have the momentum."

Lwyn looked around the empty room, "Yeah... That could be difficult since we just lost half our current forces. We'll need more bodies and that will take time."

Ordan came walking over. His hands bound but his legs were not. He tried to smile peacefully but it came across as rather creepy and unnatural, "There is one way we could strengthen ourselves."

Annoli gave him a questioning look, "Did I just hear, '_we_' and '_ourselves_'? Advice, my man, if you were a '_we_', you wouldn't be in binders right now."

He looked at her and broadened his smile and sarcastically commented, "Aren't you... _adorable_."

"_We_ or not," Lwyn told Ordan, "Why don't you tell us what you have in mind."

"The Citadel." He said, "It may not be 100%, the main cannon is still non-functioning, but it can fly and it can shoot secondary weapons."

"You wish us to use a Sith weapon against them?" Regendie asked him.

"Doesn't the Citadel require a trained crew?" Lwyn added.

"Perhaps for extreme or prolonged use. But if you want to use it as a temporary weapon, it's really no different from a battleship." He told us, "Perhaps an oddly shaped battleship, granted."

I actually thought about it for a second but decided against it, "No. That thing is too powerful. If we use it, the Republic is going to want to acquire it for themselves when this is over. We can't have that. No. It'll be destroyed here. Once and for all. But not until after Carnivis is taken care of first. I promised the War Head my loyalty and I'm giving them my full attention."

"I agree." Zade said, "If you use that it would be the end all. We could use it against the Sith in Wreenot but Wreento would be destroyed in the process. This is about liberation. Not annihilation."

"Hmm..." Ordan thought to himself, "Noble. But perhaps foolish. Liberation from the Sith won't be easy. Annihilation may be the only way to acquire liberation. But then again, I've been raised a Sith most of my life. So annihilation is all I really know."

I reached over and patted Regendie on the chest, "Don't worry, buddy. We'll think of something. In the meantime, can I put in a request for more soldiers. Preferably ones that are... you know, loyal to the War Head."

Regendie nodded, "Will do."

-\_**V**_/-

The group of Sanpak, her human colonists, a number of Curakunda, and Rollo had been sent packing from the lab and now faced a day and a half's trek back to the Camp. On foot. They weren't even allowed a form of transportation. They had stopped at a river that had been dried and reduced to a trickling creak for a break. The water wasn't even drinkable. Everyone had to drink water brought with them in canisters. They just chose this spot because it was still the nicest view in this wasteland.

Sanpak was walking from group to group to make sure everyone was alright from the hours of walking they'd already suffered through. That's when she saw Rollo. Standing alone. Off by himself behind a thicket of dried bushes. She walked over to him. When she got within a few meters she saw he had his hand extended out in front of him. A blue light hovering above his hand. It was a holo-projection. He was speaking with someone.

The moment he noticed her approaching, he shut the projection off and stuck the object back into a pocket. He turned to face her. She glared at him, "Who are you talking too?"

He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He couldn't think of an excuse. So he fessed up and removed the holo-device from his pocket and showed it to her, "I was speaking with an ally. From the Republic."

"From off world?" She barked at him, "Don't you know the Sith could pick up on our location if you make an off planet transmission."

"They haven't yet!" He argued.

"You've done this before?" She asked, seething mad.

"Yes!" He shouted, "Yes, okay? I had to report Lou's death to the Republic. A-And..."

"And what?"

"After I reported his death, a superior officer wanted me to continue reporting on the mission's progress. My second report, I actually spoke with a Senator. A great man named Howl Frimore. He was the man I just spoke with. He wants to help this planet. He really does. He despises the Sith just as much as you or I. And he told me how he's been against letting the Jedi and Laan's gang take control of this mission. He says if it was up to him, the Republic would lend full aid to Mautmua."

"Oh that's great. Get even more of you Republic worms in our soil."

"Think about it, we're not like the rest of those people. Howl and I would never seek aid from a Sith. I've already shown you that. Even your own War Head and decided to seek his aid. What kind of leader is that? How long have you and the Turr'shek been drawn into a civil war just because of his failing leadership?"

She clenched her jaw and remained silent. He was making a case representing every doubt that had been running through her head the past couple of days. Her distrust of the War Head, the Jedi, and the Swyren. And her desperation to wipe the Sith off her planet. Rollo continued, "Howl could have a fleet of Republic ships here in a matter of days. Enough to destroy every last Sith on Mautmua. Only two things are stopping him from doing so. One being consent. He'd never force the Republic on the planet. He'd need your consent."

"Mine?"

"Clearly the War Head is unfit to make that choice. He's a fool. You're a better leader than he."

She crossed her arms overs her chest and stared down at him with an open mind, "Whats the second thing?"

He answered her, "The Sith's shield around the planet. It's the only thing preventing any ships from coming here."

Sanpak raised a curious eyebrow, "Is that right?"

((Note: Sigh... okay. Once again, sorry for a long update. Things have been stressful lately. But I really hope the next update will be more timely. But things always seem to pop up lately. So we'll see.))


	17. Chapter 17: Division

Chapter 17: Division

The sounds of thunderous explosions echoed throughout the area as laser blasts struck the ground around us. Sending up clouds of smoke. We were being pelted with so many blasts, the area became surrounded in brown haze of dirt and debris. A battle zone in the middle of a dry, wasteland of dirt and the occasional spot of brown, dried plant life.

The War Head sent us a huge squadron of additional Curakunda and Human colonists. As soon as they arrived we continued our pursuit towards Wreenot, the capitol city. Our last major stop before we reached that goal, was a large Sith base. It acted both as a base for research and development, but also a barracks for a large number of Sith soldiers. The stakes were raised as we now faced more Sith than Turr'shek. Sith with an arsenal of firepower to repelled us.

The base was made of two major buildings and a dozen or so small buildings inside a tall, metal wall. There was only one, heavily guarded entrance through the wall. The Sith had a catwalk built around the entire wall. And they were ready for us. A couple dozen Sith troopers with rocket launchers and laser turrets were placed around the catwalk.

They fired upon us the moment they saw us. Leaving us in a unenviable situation. An army of foot soldiers fighting a massive wall of metal, pelting us with deadly force. But we had skill and variety on our side. I still had more confidence in my army of the strength of the Curakunda mixed with the Force-users of the Jedi and Sweyren... and Ordan.

As much as I would have liked to join in the heat of the battle, I had to wait in the back of the battle with Regendie, Xelka, and Caily. The rest were all out on the battlefield. I gave out orders to my army, using Regendie as my mouth piece. Not only did were his Curakunda lungs able to shout my orders out over the battlefield, but I felt the Curakunda would responded better to orders if they heard it from one of their own. Caily was still back with me because her Force-sight was temporarily blinded whenever a blast from a launcher erupted around her. So I had her hold back until we took care of those.

Xelka's role was the most important however. For now at least. Because of those rocket launchers, I couldn't send in Vayne and the Snap-Axel to level the place with the ship's cannons. He'd be shot from the air if he came within eyesight of this place.

I ordered the Curakunda and the Force-users of the army to approach the base and draw the fire and cause a distraction. That was their only job for now. Meanwhile, Xelka laid down, belly first on the ground. Body still. Long distance sniper riffle mounted on a tripod. One eye peering through the scope as she slowly moved the sniper riffle to target her next victim. Pointing out the Sith with rocket launchers and picking them off.

I pointed to the left side of our charging force. They were getting to close to the walls. Becoming less than a distraction and more of cannon fodder. I shouted, "Left flank! Left Flank! Fall back!"

Regendie relayed my message and shouted loudly in his Curakunda native tongue. Seeing them retreating back to a safe distance, I turned towards Xelka who was deep in concentration. She was still as a statue, minus her hands which operated her riffle. Her finger pulled the trigger and let out a powerful blast from her riffle. She announced her kill recently improved number, "...Five..."

"Good, work." I praised her, "Get them down to half and I'll bring in the Axel."

She continued to whittle the Sith launchers away. Shot by shot. Meanwhile, I was just trying to keep our army, of maybe a hundred and fifty, alive. The launchers and turrets had already taken out fifteen or so of our soldiers. All we could do is continue to run distraction until Xelka made room for the Axel. But I had to make sure that none of the army got to close enough to base. They'd be slaughtered.

The current plant seemed straightforward enough until we saw a number of Aeronaut Turr'shek soldiers flying into the air from within the base. Armed with blasters and flying right for us. It seemed they had caught on to our trick and were making their way directly towards Xelka. Trying to take out our sniper. Unflinchingly and taking no attention away from her job, Xelka calmly asked me, "Got my back?"

I reached to my sides and grabbed two lightsaber handles. Igniting them both and keeping close to her, "Of course."

She responded to me with another shot, "Seven."

As the Aeronauts came closer, flying over the top of the main battlefield, still headed for us, I ordered all of the Human colonists to fire up at them. Leaving them and their superiorly accurate blaster riffles to pick them off. While leaving the Curakunda and their powerful but less accurate Sadek staffs to continue on with the distraction. One Curakunda made an amazing shot with his or her staff, firing almost blindly and shooting one of the turrets in the gun barrel. The blast caused the barrel to splint down the center. Rendering it inoperable. One turret down and we weren't even trying for it.

I hate to use the term, "acceptable loss", but losing only fifteen soldiers so far for the progress we were making was quite exceptional. But all of that would be next to futile if anything happened to Xelka.

While the colonists managed to take out a handful of the Aeronauts, there were still nearly twenty or so of them airborne, still headed for us. I stood ready. Caily ignited her blade and gripped into her good hand. Regendie readied his Sadek staff. Ready to defend Xelka as well. Added reinforcements came when Rento and a couple of colonists left the main battlefield and came to help us. Of course, Rento would come to protect, Xelka. His Twi'twin.

The Aeronauts came within firing range of their target, Xelka. Caily actually stepped over the top of Xelka. One foot on each of Xelak's side, standing over the top of her and concentrated on deflecting any blaster bolt that came near her. Xelka, nerves of steel, just kept shooting.

Rento, the colonists, and Regendie all fired at the Aeronauts. Rento with his dual pistols shot down four of them himself. The others managed to shoot down three. I waited until they got a little closer before I acted.

When they got close enough that they started to take aim at Xelka with their own blasters, I acted. Deflecting one bolt that came my way and reflected it back at the Aeronaut. Striking it in the wing. Causing it to fall thirty feet to the ground. Landing on it's back, still alive, trying to get to its feet. Until Rento ran over and popped four, quick shots into it's chest.

One of the Aeronaut's got brave and decided to fly at me, full speed, kamikaze style. It took me until it reached around ten meters away from me before I realized it had a grenade in it's hand. It was trying to take the grouping of Xelka, Caily, and myself all out in one desperate attempt.

I dropped my right saber to the ground. I then quickly extended my right, empty hand toward the incoming Aeroanut. Using the Force, I wrapped a tight grip around it's neck. Choking and stopping it mid air. It still had one hand still gripping the grenade. The other hand clutching it's neck as it's wing fluttered wildly in panic. Fluttering around in the air, making it more difficult for me to keep the choke applied. I grit my teeth and intensified my grip around it's neck and pulled it, by the neck, down to the ground. Away from anyone. The moment it made impact with the ground, its grip on the grenade released and an explosion blew the Turr'shek away and made a large scar in the ground.

Taking my right hand and pointing it towards the ground where my recently dropped saber rested, blade still humming, I levitated it off the ground and used a Force push to launch the blade towards another Aeronaut. The blade finding's it mark in it's chest. Target killed instantly. The slain Turr'shek began to fall towards the ground. Interesting enough, another nearby Aeroanout flew over to the falling body and as it was still falling, quickly pulled my lightsaber from it's chest. A Turr'Shek Aeronaunt now held my lightsaber in it's hand. I raised an eyebrow, "Huh. That's a new one."

It took my saber and gripped it like a javelin. Aiming for Xelka, it threw it blade first for her. But Caily was on it and swiped her own saber upwards and knocked my stolen saber into the air. Flying end over end until it hit the ground a great distance away from me. Caily was confused by the situation and quickly barked at me, "What the hell? Laan, did you just throw one of your lightsabers at me?"

"Just keep at it!" I ordered back as I reached to my belt for one of my many other lightsabers. Before I could get payback at that pest for stealing my blade, Regendie blasted it in the chest with a shot from his staff. Beating me to it. Drat.

Over all the fighting, Xelka announced, "Twelve."

"Twelve?" I repeated, rhetorically. Take away twelve rocket launders and the one turret that Curakunda shot... The Axel should be cleared enough to fly now. I quickly ignited my new saber and used it to deflect another blasted bolt into the dirt. Meanwhile, I brought my left hand up to my mouth. Using my chin to hit a button of a tiny communicator on my wrist. I got in touch with the Axel, "Vayne?"

"I hear you." He answered.

"Come on in." I told him.

"Understood." He said quickly as he ended the communication.

I then shouted as loud as I could to my troops, "Incoming, Axel!"

I don't think many in the battlefield heard me. But they did hear the sound of a roaring engine approaching. The sound was enough to turn the Aeronaut's attention away from us. Towards the near horizon as the Axel came rushing in. Ship cannons firing into the air. Cutting down the Aeronaut to half the number before zipping by and actually slamming the nose of the ship into an unlucky, or just stupid, Aeronaut that didn't move in time. Rento and Regendie worked on bringing down the few remaining Aeronauts.

The Axel cruised to the base and opened fire on the turrets. Not slowing as Vayne pummeled one of the turret's into a mass of shrapnel. There were still seven or so rocket launchers that fired at Vayne. Which is why he couldn't slow down and actually had to bypass the base and continue until he was out of range. Where he turned around and made another pass. Making it easier for him, Xelka dropped another launcher.

The launchers' full attention was now on the Axel. Leaving the gate wide open for the taking. So I ordered them to charge the base. Also telling Vayne to be careful for friendly fire during his second pass through. Zade, Lwyn, Annoli, and even the newly recruited Ordan Drust lead the charge. Still wasn't sure how trustworthy he was, but Lwyn was keeping a close eye on him. Biderek and his unit, the Curakunda, and colonists were close behind them.

The four reached the closed gate first and sunk their lightsabers into the steel frame just as Vayne zipped over the top of the base, sending another volley of fire down into the base and to the surrounding catwalk where the Sith launchers were. When Vayne finished his second pass he spoke to me through the com-unit, "Foot soldiers are coming out of the barracks. Sith and Turr'shek alike."

Lwyn, who had a com-unit of her own responded, "_Understood. All units be ready_!"

The four used their lightsabers to carve four holes into the large gate. Holes big enough to fit two or three Curakunda in at a time. Before entering into the holes though, a group of Human colonists threw a few home-made grenades into the base, through those holes. Clearing out any enemy that may have been waiting on the other end. When the explosions from the grenades settled, the invasion army charged in. I still watched from afar as the army slowly funneled into the base through the holes.

I was worried that they'd be easy pickings for the Sith since they had to funnel through such a concentrated area. But my concerns lessened when Vayne came by for his third pass. This time slowing as he approached the base. Due to Xelka's sniping and Vayne's previous two passes, the Sith's anti-aircraft forces had been obliterated. So he slowed to the point where he actually hovered above the base, raining down fire onto the enemy and providing major support for the army entering the base. I wasn't there but I could tell the Sith were completely overwhelmed. At this point they were being shot at from all directions.

Xelka's role was over and she turned over onto her back. Looking up at Caily who still stood over her, "You can get off me now."

Caily switched her saber off and stood aside from Xelka. Using her good hand to offer Xelka a hand up. Rento walked over and gave Xelka a high five for a job well done. He then turned to Regendie, Caily, the aiding colonists, and I, "This part is taken care of. Let's join in on the battle."

I barley heard his comment. Rather, I sort of ignored it because I got a chill up my spine. I felt like an aura around my body suddenly dropped away into nothingness. Something disturbed me. Caily sensed it too. Or maybe she just sensed the uneasiness in me, "You sense something? Whats wrong?"

"Is there trouble in the battle?" Xelka asked.

I shook my head, "I uhh... I don't know. I just feel very uneasy... Somethings not right."

A few seconds later Vayne contacted me through the Axel's communicator, "Ummm... Laan?"

I brought my com-link up to my mouth, "Vayne? Yeah?"

He paused as if he he hadn't believed what he was about to say, "This may not be the right time... but the Sith's planetary shield around the planet, it.. well, it barley shows up on my scanners. It's nearly gone."

I hesitated a moment before telling him, "Were the Axel's sensor's damaged?"

He waited to respond as he was still in combat above the base. He actually had to steer the ship away from the base to give himself a moment to speak. When he did he told me, "No, my sensors are fine. The shield is massively weakened."

I sighed and told him, "Alright, Vayne. I got it, just deal with the mission for now."

"Got it." He said as he brought the ship back over the battlefield.

"Whats the big deal?" Caily asked, "The Sith probably just dropped the shields to allow one of their ships in or out of the plant's atmosphere. "

"No." Xelka told her, "The Sith have clearance codes to pass through without having to drop the shield."

Rento added, "There would be no reason for the Sith to drop the shield."

I put my hands on my hips and lowered my head in disbelief as it suddenly hit me. I told them, "The Sith have no reason to drop the shields and the Curakunda have just as much need of that shield as the Sith. To keep outsiders away."

Xlak winced as she thought, "So.. that leaves... Oh. One of us."

"Rollo." Rento said through pierced lips, "That little punk."

I looked over to Regendie, "And he couldn't have done it alone."

Regendie clenched his massive hands into fists, "Sanpak and those other up-speakers. Do you really think they could, or would have done this?"

I git my teeth in disgust and anger, "I have no doubt. I can sense them behind this."

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, this isn't the greatest of times to worry about this." Caily told us.

I nodded, "You're right... Ugh. Gathering aid like Rollo from the Republic was supposed to help us. Not make things worse."

Regendie raised an eyebrow at me, "And now you understand my clan's frustrations for hundreds of years."

-\_**V**_/-

Rollo stood and watched as a massive heap of metal burned before him. An emitter-dish of nearly three hundred meters brought down with tons of handmade explosives planted and then detonated around the base. Explosives stolen from Curakunda warehouses. The base was crippled and the massive planetary shield emitter crumbled like a child's building blocks. With this one emitter-dish destroyed, it would greatly weaken the entire planet's shield. It would no longer be able to repel an armada of large ships from approaching the planet.

Sanpak walked over to him and patted him on the back, "Well done. We lost nearly two thirds of our forces but it was worth it to take the next step."

Rollo smiled as he looked at the burning debris off in the distance, "I assure you, you made the right choice."

She gave him another pat on the back before returning to check on some of her soldiers injured from the assault. When she left, Rollo reaching into his pocket and removed a holo-player. He held it on the palm of his hand and switched it on. The moment it was activated, a holo-image of an eagerly waiting Senator Howl Frimore appeared. He folded his hands together and smiled into the projection, "Young Rollo. I can assume you are reporting success?"

Rolo nodded, "Yes, Senator. The emitter dish came down easier than expected. I believe the Sith paid little attention to it since the Curakunda wanted the shields active just as much as the Sith. But this is whats best for them. To end Sith oppressions."

"That it is." Howl said with a wide smile, "Rollo, you my boy, are a hero."

"When will the cavalry arrive, Senator?"

"Soon, Rollo. I've gathered my own personal armada to assist you. The Chancellor won't interfere. I'll make sure of that."


End file.
